


Memento Mori

by MidnightPandora



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Multi, Supernatural Elements, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-09-07 22:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8819173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightPandora/pseuds/MidnightPandora
Summary: Tsukishima lives in a world where many have the ability to enter a different state of being, the aether. In the aether you have a different role and different relationships with those around you, you are not aware of your role and relationships in the real world while in this state. Tsukishima is the one exception to this rule; or he has been for a very long time. (A/N: this is the first fic i've ever written for any fandom so i'd really appreciate any feedback at all, thank you!)





	1. Prologue

_ Trees flash by in the darkness. Heavy breathing, the sound of hurried footsteps on a forest floor, and the pounding of blood in ears. _

 

Yamaguchi Tadashi turned his head, eyes scanning.

The footsteps slowed —then stopped. 

Heavy breathing; slowed — then stopped.

The pounding of blood in his ears: slowed —then stopped.

 

Yamaguchi Tadashi was still.

The forest — still.

He was safe.

 

….

 

Voices came. Tadashi froze. He had sat down in the forest lost, not knowing where else to go or what to do. They were coming. He could hear them getting closer. It was too late they were too close already — he couldn't run, what to do, what to do, what to do -

“Why do they always run?” The voice was laughing, “They can’t run forever ,  we’ll always be faster!”

“Yeah cause we’re the best around! These stupid Keres are going to regret the day they decided to be the evil sons of bitches that they are.” Tears filled Tadashi’s eyes.

  
  


“Got you.” Nishinoya Yuu announced with a wolfish grin. He grabbed the Keres before him by the shoulder and turned them around so that they were face to face.

 

Tadashi froze when his shoulder was seized, a hand had grabbed him and turned him around roughly. The Phyros it belonged to was glaring. Tadashi flinched.

“You disgusting creature.” Yuu spat at Tadashi’s feet. Tanaka Ryuunosuke, who stood beside Yuu, tilted his head upward, folded his arms, and looked down at Tadashi, as if he were the most vile creature he had ever seen. “You’re going to pay for the things your kind have done.” he announced in a clear voice. The Phyros shared dark smirks. Tadashi tried not to let the tears fall.

Yuu began to raise his hand. The forest began to glow, Tadashi closed his eyes. Everything went black. Then red, then pink, as the light shone through his closed eyelids with  increasing intensity. Eventually it was nearly white.

Tadashi saw the blinding light, despite the shield of his eyelids, and prepared for the pain. He did not run, yell, or plead. He knew he stood no chance against the Phyros before him. All went quiet.

 

“Stop.” Came a new voice, with a tone of finality. Tadashi shivered. Everything flashed back to black and the faint heat he had began to feel left him, he opened his eyes. In front of him stood a tall figure with short blond hair which he did not recognize. The stranger was close enough that if he’d extended his arms, they would more than reach the figure. He did not reach out.

 

“And who the fuck are you?” Ryuunosuke scowled, making an unnerving face.

 

The stranger said nothing.

 

“Then I’ll just have to take you out too.” Yuu growled. He raised his hand and Tadashi left his eyes open this time, unable to look away, the shock of the figure appearing before him was still too much, he needed to know more. Who was this person? How had he stopped the Phyros’ desmi? Yuu’s hand was open but the fingers were slightly furled, a small spot of white forming in his palm. It grew in size and became blindingly bright, Tadashi looked to the figure instead, unable to look directly at the light. 

Nishinoya Yuu moved his arm and fist quickly, swinging in a motion similar to as if he intended to punch the intruder. Instead, when his arm extended, light exploded in all directions and the air got hot, so so hot, the hairs on Tadashi’s arms began to burn. The figure in front of him did not move. Did not make a sound. He had taken the full brunt of the attack, nothing but a slightly uncomfortable heat reaching Tadashi behind him.

 

The stranger still had not moved. 

 

“Tch.”

 

Yuu and Ryuunosuke stared, mouths open in anger and disbelief.

 

Tadashi saw now. The stranger had moved, he just hadn’t noticed before. His arm was in front of him, at about chest height and curved in towards his body, as if he’d used it to shield them. 

Yamaguchi was relatively new to the world of the aether, but he did know some things from the stories that went around and from his short introduction to the Twilight Kingdom.

 

_ There’s no way he could produce a Keres shield that strong. Especially that quickly.  _

_ Ryuu and Yuu had notoriously powerful desmi. _

_ Who was this person? _

 

Ryuunosuke and Yuu stared at each other with astonished faces. Then Yuu’s face darkened. He grinned and turned back to the stranger, “You can’t just block us forever.” He ran toward Kei, raising his arms as he approached. Ryuunosuke eyed his friend then followed with a disturbing grin, also raising his arms. Tadashi could already feel the heat —

 

“Tch.” The stranger’s head tilted, eyes squinting at Yuu and Ryuunosuke with displeasure, then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is a bit of a mess but a bit of an intentional mess? Idk we'll see where it goes.. I was going to wait til I had several chapters typed up before I started posting because I know waiting for chapters is a pain but I wanted to get at least some feedback on whether anyone would actually be interested in hearing more or not before I wrote more. Also Christmas break is coming up so if people do like it I should have plenty of time to write more.
> 
> Sorry a lot of stuff in the fic is vague (purposely so), check the authors notes like this for small explanations on the world. e.g.: The Phyros and the Keres are two groups of magical beings called Apόkosma who have been at war for years, sorry if that was confusing to figure out.
> 
> also following chapters will likely be much longer


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there is talk of fictional religions and fictional religious beings in this chapter and it may sound a bit like im poking fun of religions in general. That wasn't really my intention I was just trying to say what I thought would happen given the circumstance and I think Tsuki, or the Tsuki in this world at least, wouldn't think too highly of religion or faith. That doesn't mean I feel that way or that I'm trying to make the reader think that way it's just how I picture Tsuki would feel on the matter.

Morning practice had begun. Daichi split everyone off into groups at the start; Yamaguchi’s group consisting of himself, Tsukishima, Tanaka, and Kageyama. Nishinoya senpai had begun to make a ruckus about not being put in the same group as Tanaka at first, and Tanaka had looked ready to make a fuss as well, but Daichi stopped them both with a stern look. After being scolded, Nishinoya went off to his respectful group, and Tanaka to his. Both regained their usual energy when Suga pointed out that this was a good chance for them to teach their kouhais things.

 

Yamaguchi and Kageyama both wanted to practice serving, and Tanaka had announced, since Tsukishima hadn’t given any input on what he wanted to do, that he and Tsukishima should practice blocking. So, they decided to practice both, by having Tanaka and Tsukishima block Yamaguchi and Kageyama’s serves, despite this not being a typical practice in volleyball.

 

Yamaguchi had nearly perfected his jump float serve a few practices ago but he still had a ways to go when it came to serving in other ways. He figured that if he wanted to become a regular for the team like his classmates, he would need a couple different methods under his belt in order to shake things up on the court when necessary. So, he was trying to learn, with a little help from Kageyama. He was practicing very hard, his determination and intensity reaching nearly the same level as the setter’s; although he looked a bit less scary than Kageyama when concentrating.

 

“That one was really good Yamaguchi!” Tanaka yelled with a broad grin, the last serve had shot right past Tanaka’s arms, with significantly more force than Yamaguchi’s previous serves. Tanaka turned around to go get the ball from behind him.

 

“Thank you senpai,” Yamaguchi responded, smiling sheepishly, the honorific only excited Tanaka more, making his Senpai leap in the air with glee after grabbing the ball, this made Yamaguchi laugh.

 

Tsukishima watched their exchange with what appeared to be indifference. He was deep in thought, however.

 

Tanaka was about to hit the ball back over the net, to Kageyama this time, when the whistle blew to signify the end of practice, eliciting groans of disappointment from some, and relief from others. Everyone stopped what they were doing and began heading toward the locker room, collecting balls along the way, when Daichi called out, “Yamaguchi, it’s your turn to put the nets away,” then, on a second thought, “Nishinoya please help him to make up for your disruption earlier,” Daichi added sternly.

 

“Aww okay Daichi,” Nishinoya said with a small sheepish smile.

 

Yamaguchi walked to the nearest net and reached up to begin untying it from the post, Nishinoya doing the same at the other end. He paused when he noticed Tsukishima had stopped near the doorway and was facing them, watching.  _ They did normally walk to class together.  _ Yamaguchi thought to himself with a small smile.

 

“You can go on ahead without me, I’ll see you in class!” Yamaguchi called out to Tsukishima with a grin.

 

Tsukishima seemed to hesitate, then gave a small nod and left. Noya watched the interaction then shrugged and went back to folding the net up,  _ Tsukishima kouhai sure was weird _ , he couldn’t help but think to himself, something had always felt a little off about the taller boy to him, but he could never figure out why. He didn’t voice this, however, fearing Daichi and Suga might lecture him for criticizing the first year, especially since his foundation for the criticism was nothing but a gut feeling. 

  
  


….

 

Kei was sitting in his class seat, gazing out the window beside him with disinterest when he spotted Yamaguchi walking into the classroom out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to face his friend Yamaguchi noticed and flashed him a smile, he also opened his mouth to greet Tsukishima but before he could say anything a nearby classmate walked up and asked him a question. Kei assumed that it was about last night's homework, it had been a particularly tricky reading assignment and Yamaguchi was very good at the subject. The student eyed Tsukishima nervously as he asked his question, as if he expected Kei to snap at him. Kei simply stared back. Yamaguchi may be his only close friend but he didn't own him, he could talk to who ever he liked. Yamaguchi answered his question, not noticing the tension between the two of them, then began chatting with the classmate about arbitrary things, just making small talk. Tsukishima didn’t really see the point in such things, yet continued to watch the freckled boy make conversation. The classmate seemed to forget that Tsukishima was there after a while and began to give Yamaguchi his full attention. Yamaguchi occasionally glanced over to Tsukishima as he talked, as if to make it clear that he was paying attention to him as well. 

 

Kei pondered this action. He really didn’t understand why Yamaguchi gave him the attention he did. His classmates were definitely easier to talk to… yet the kind and friendly boy had chosen Tsukishima to befriend of all people. Kei really didn't understand it; he wasn't exactly nice to Yamaguchi, he frequently told him to shut up and often didn't even listen to what he was saying. This was something he felt slightly bad about, but not enough to make an effort to change and the other had never called him out on it or shown signs of it upsetting him.

 

Yes, Kei had helped Yamaguchi out once when they were young, but other than that he had hardly given the boy any reason to like him. He wasn’t talkative, or friendly or particularly helpful other than during that one occurrence. What did Yamaguchi get out of the friendship? Kei didn't understand it but regardless he realized he was actually quite thankful for Yamaguchi’s affection. He'd never really had someone who cared about what he had to say or his well being before; or not for a terribly long time at least. It wasn’t necessary by any means to survive, but it was nice. It made him feel better to know that there was someone looking out for him besides himself.

 

Usually, Kei made an effort  _ not _ to get close to anyone. Getting close to people only ever seemed to cause problems for both them and himself; life was less complicated when there were less people to worry about pleasing or looking out for. Yet he found that he really didn't mind these things when it came to Yamaguchi, his unwavering friendship and kindness made it worth the complications.

 

Having a friend did make things complicated though. He glanced back to the window and sighed to himself quietly, he couldn’t help but think of yesterday’s occurrence. It was very similar to what took place back in elementary school between the two of them; him coming to the others rescue. He didn't mind that part of it, looking out for Yamaguchi that is. But he minded what made this occurrence different from that which happened in elementary school. The difference being the perpetrator. Yes, this offense had also been a little more intense than a couple of kids just being bullies, but Kei still wouldn’t have minded the severity of the attack had it been just that; bullies. Bad people. People who enjoy giving grief to others just for the hell of it.  _ But Nishinoya senpai and Tanaka senpai are not bullies. _ They were Yamaguchi’s friends, and classmates; senpai’s even who would look out for him if he were ever in danger. 

 

 _But in the aether they were enemies, bent on killing him_ _given the chance._ Kei thought darkly. 

 

That's how it was with the aether. Friends become enemies, family become each other's murderers, and peaceful relations can turn into an all out war.

 

Tsukishima Kei hated it. He hated knowing what they didn’t. He hated seeing the ones he cared for, who he knew cared for each other, hurting one another and not being able to stop it. That was why he he had been avoiding befriending anyone in  _ this _ world for so long, it hurt too much to see them get hurt in the  _ aether _ . And those whom he came to care for in the aether would  _ always _ get hurt, he knew this to be fact.

 

“They’re saying it may have just been a freak accident… but still…” Kei  suddenly tuned in again to what their classmate was saying, the intensity in their tone catching his attention once more. “They’re saying this is one of the most extreme cases they’ve seen in a very long time! Some are even saying the  _ Aetheror _ may have returned!” The classmate whisper yelled in awe, his eyes going wide. He’d said the name like it was almost forbidden to talk about, Tsukishima supposed that it was in a way, people treated the Aetheror like a god and gods were always controversial to talk about. The bell had just rung signaling that class would begin soon and students began to shuffle in and head to their respective seats. Yamaguchi’s eyes had widened as well at the student's story, the impact of what he had said just getting across. Tsukishima, however, snorted, much to the classmate’s embarrassment and anger, which made Yamaguchi raise his eyebrows; he hadn't thought Tsuki was listening.

People were always starting rumors that the Aetheror may finally be returning, and so far they were never true. The Aetheror was a fated being of stories, a Phyros who was supposedly more powerful than any ever seen before, who could allegedly harness the power of the sun if they wished to…. Such a being had not been accounted for for hundreds of years, however, and the stories that did exist often contradicted; leading some to believe that no such being had ever actually existed and never would. 

 

Now Kei did know one thing, he knew that the Aetheror had existed, that they were a legitimate person once upon a time. But many of the stories still were not true and he highly doubted they would ever return. Stories were always being started, and prophecies always being read into once again about how this year, this would be the year, they were finally going to appear and walk the earth once more. These rumors started up every couple years, and had yet to come true. Tsukishima had stopped worrying about the concept after the first couple ‘prophesied years’ he had lived for.

 

Yamaguchi, however, gave Tsukishima a dirty look for making their classmate feel bad. Kei simply gave him a small smirk in return, Tadashi already knew how he felt about the whole concept, why not let their classmate know as well. Some people took the matter very seriously however, and prayed to the Aetheror and lived their lives around these stories, trying to follow the fated being’s will. Or their personal idea of the Aetheror’s will at least. Which often contradicted with other people's ideas of the Aetheror’s will.

 

“It may sound fake, but it happened right here in Miyagi this time, up in the mountains! Hinata told me he saw it himself!” The classmate quickly exclaimed, gleeful of having someone to prove what he was saying, “You two know him don’t you? He plays volleyball and he lives on the other side of the mountains, the mountains where it happened, he said he saw the flashes and explosion when he was riding back from practice last night!”

 

At this Tsukishima actually full out laughed. He couldn’t help it; Hinata was probably the last person he could ever believe when it came to such things. The boy exaggerated  _ everything _ .

At this their classmate huffed and walked back to his own desk, the teacher had just walked in so he needed to go sit down. He gave Tsukishima a dirty look as he went. 

 

Yamaguchi frowned. He couldn't help but agree that Hinata probably wasn't the best person to use as a witness. He exaggerated and was really bad at explaining things, reverting to odd sound effects when words failed him in his excitement, but he didn't really approve of Tsukishima laughing at another student either.

 

    The teacher greeted the students and the students greeted the teacher in response, then the lessons began. Yamaguchi listened intently while writing notes in his notebook, although still a little preoccupied by their conversation. Meanwhile Tsukishima continued to stare out the window, deeply zoning out. He half listened to the professor, opening the correct books and turning to the correct pages when necessary to avoid the embarrassment of being called on and not knowing what to read, but he did not take notes or pay attention to the what the teacher was saying beyond that. His mind was elsewhere, and he already knew it all so he really didn't see the point.

 

The morning went by without any more notable occurrences, the teacher continued to cover lessons, Yamaguchi continued to take notes, and Kei continued to zone out. Kei was broken from this state, however, when lunch came along. 

 

Normally, Tadashi and Kei ate together in their classroom or outside under a tree somewhere, occasionally accompanied by a classmate who was a friend of Yamaguchi’s, but that was rare. Once or twice Yachi had decided to join them for lunch as well but normally her lunch periods were spent working with Kageyama and Hinata who had an upcoming test or particularly tricky homework problem which they needed her help with. But normally the two ate their lunches alone, aside from the others company. 

 

Today, however, three people showed up in Yamaguchi and Tsukishima’s classroom. Hinata was in the lead, dragging a flustered Yachi behind him and an annoyed looking Kageyama followed behind the two of them. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, Hinata must have really thought he'd seen something after all if he couldn't wait til practice to tell them. Kei considered tuning the redhead’s voice out, or even leaving to eat his lunch in peace, knowing full well that whatever Hinata was going to tell them would be repeated with just as much enthusiasm at practice later, but Hinata began before he had a chance to excuse himself.

 

“IT WAS LIKE GWAAAAH AND THERE WAS SO MUCH LIGHT AND THEN IT WAS LIKE WAM AND THERE WAS THIS EXPLOSION-” 

 

“There's no way this actually happened.” Kageyama cut in rolling his eyes. It sounded like this wasn’t the first time he’d told the redhead this.

 

Hinata simply ignored his comment and continued rambling, until eventually Yamaguchi interrupted him. “Are you talking about the sighting Hinata?” He flinched when he saw Kageyama and Tsukishima’s looks of disbelief. Well Tsuki’s face actually looked quite neutral, but Yamaguchi knew Kei’s stare was his way of asking Yamaguchi why on earth he'd encourage the decoy to keep talking.

 

Hinata’s face lit up, “So you heard about it too! See it was even on the news, I knew someone would believe me!” He said to Kageyama and Yachi. Yachi looked like she wanted to say something but ended up just giving the energetic boy a small smile instead.

 

“The news exaggerates as much as you do. They just want a good story because good stories are what makes them money.” Tsukishima dead panned.

 

Kageyama’s eyes lit up and he nodded in agreement, as if he had been thinking the same thing all along; he shrunk again, however, when Tsukishima gave him a look like he was going to murder him.

 

“I’m not exaggerating!” Hinata said with a pout, “Why won't anyone believe me…” He actually looked pretty upset, something the rest of them weren't used to seeing in the usually very animated boy. They’d seen him nervous before, sure, and had seen him get emotional over something good happening but they’d never seen him look this sad.

 

“Why don’t you show us sometime where it happened, Hinata?” Yachi spoke up for the first time since they had entered the room, her voice small and reluctant, “If there really was a big explosion there should be a mark right?”

 

Hinata’s entire face lit up with excitement. “Yeah there is an explosion mark, a really really big one, kinda like a hole in the ground and some broken trees and stuff! I can show you guys after practice today!” He looked between all of them, with hopeful eyes.

There was a long pause where no one said anything. Kageyama, Yachi and Yamaguchi all eyed each other, waiting for one of the others to say something. Hinata’s hopeful face began to fall.

 

“Fine, on the way home from practice I'll walk part way to your house with you to see just how big this explosion was,” Kageyama sighed at last.

 

Yamaguchi smiled, he could tell that Kageyama didn't like to see Hinata down, even if he wouldn’t ever admit it. “We can come too if you like.” Tadashi volunteered for himself and Tsuki, giving Tsukishima a knowing look in the process as if to say  _ come on it won't hurt anything to look. _

 

Tsukishima glared. Hinata’s house was in the complete opposite direction from his own, something he knew Yamaguchi was well aware of. Kageyama gave him a look as well, but his seemed to be more of a glare, as if to say  _ if I have to go you better fucking come as well. _

 

“Well if both the king and his servant are going to be there I suppose it might be a bit fun to rile them up along the way,” Tsukishima said with a smirk, but his eyes looked like they could kill. He couldn't help but take pleasure in the rise his statement got out of both Hinata and Kageyama, however. He avoided making eye contact with Yamaguchi, knowing full well that the boy was giving him a grateful smile. He had no clue why he agreed to the idea, to be honest the whole thing sounded like a nightmare. Maybe because he had nothing better to do, or maybe because he was a bit worried about leaving Yamaguchi on his own after last night… Then again Kageyama was a Keres as well, with the two of them there he should be fine right? Tsukishima considered still backing out but for some reason Hinata being back to his cheerful self made it difficult. Yes, he was currently screaming at Kageyama, much to Tsukishima’s annoyance, but he had that light in his eyes again. Yamaguchi was definitely going to tease him about having a soft spot for the ginger now… 

 

“Yachi you’ll come too, right?” Hinata asked, eyes lighting up with excitement. Yachi looked frightened and hesitated, “I-I suppose I could ask my mom… I don’t know if she’ll like me walking home so late alone and making plans so last minute is-”

 

“I can walk you home after if you’d like.” Kagayama volunteered. 

 

“Uh okay then,” Yachi replied with a small smile, her eyes widened a bit at the offer.

“WAAAHOOOOO YACHI’S COMING TOO!” Hinata was actually bouncing around the room in excitement at this point.

 

“Okay now that that’s settled, I think it’s time for all of you to leave.” Tsukishima said firmly, giving them all a glare. He stood up, stretching his long legs out of the desk space and began pushing Hinata and Kageyama across the classroom and out of the door, much to their annoyance and Yamaguchi’s laughter, while Yachi trailed behind the group nervously. Once he had gotten them to the hallway he started heading back to his seat, he was hoping that he still had enough time to eat in peace before class started again. Before he got there, however, he turned around and fixed a glare on the boy behind him. Hinata had begun following him back into the classroom, and Yachi and Kageyama were still in the doorway as well. 

 

“Can’t we eat lunch with you guys?” Hinata said with a pout, looking between Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. He held up his lunch as he asked, as if to show that that had been their purpose all along. Tsukishima was fuming now; he’d had enough of the idiot duo for one day and they hadn’t even gotten through afternoon practice yet, there was no way he was eating lunch with his noisy and stress inducing teammates. Especially when he was still a bit shaken up about yesterday…

 

Seeing this, Yamaguchi spoke up, “Why don’t I join you guys outside instead?” He gave Tsukishima a broad smile, then walked out with Hinata who, upon hearing the idea of eating outside, had decided that that was a _ wonderful _ idea because,  _ maybe if they had enough time they could even play some volleyball! _

 

Tsukishima was a little grateful toward Yamaguchi for getting them to leave him alone, but it still didn’t make up for his volunteering Kei to go with them that evening, so he didn’t smile in return. He pointedly turned back to the window and began to eat his lunch in peace, trying to ignore Hinata’s loud laugh as the four of them made their way out of the class room and down the hall.


	3. Chapter 3

Afternoon practice had come around, and not long after had come to an end. Now the group of first years were all awkwardly standing around outside the club room, waiting for one of the others to bring up their previous agreement. Tsukishima had hoped that they would forget the plan by practice but Yachi’s presence made it clear that this was actually something they had agreed to. He couldn't help but sigh. The upperclassmen all eyed them with curiosity, wondering what the group of first years were doing and why Yachi was still there. “Are you guys getting together to study?” Suga guessed, tilting his head in curiousity. Hinata shook his head quickly and opened his mouth to explain-

“We’re going to go get food together from Ukai’s shop.” Kageyama interrupted before Hinata had time to say that they were looking for evidence of an aether occurrence. He had a feeling that their senpais might disapprove of what they were doing, and regardless he didn’t want them to think he believed Hinata’s story.

 

Unfortunately this led to Sugawara senpai declaring, “That’s a great idea, why don't we all go to the shop?” with a smile. Daichi and Asahi both nodded in agreement and soon the second years were roped in as well. 

 

Hinata’s face distorted in confusion and he looked ready to yell, probably at Kageyama for not mentioning what they were really doing, but both Kageyama and Tsukishima gave him dirty looks which shut him up.

It was typically considered a bad idea to go looking around areas where things had happened in the aether, especially with large groups of people. This is because when visiting areas where significant events have taken place in the aether there is a higher chance of any present apόkosma entering the aether themselves, which often led to fighting. It was also common to enter the aether if those around you entered the aether. In general it was also somewhat frowned upon to ask others whether they were apόkosma or to speculate on their positions in the aether, especially with the older generations. Many considered it scandalous or just plain rude to talk about. With the younger generations it was starting to become a bit more common to speculate, however, mostly just because people got curious and children didn’t see why it mattered as much to keep it a secret. Recent studies had also shown that the current generation of high school teenagers had some of the highest rates of apόkosma the world had seen in decades which might have contributed to their heightened curiosity in comparison to other age groups.

 

This is why Yachi had been very hesitant to talk to Hinata about what he saw earlier, she actually believed rather strongly in the idea of the Aetheror returning, but was pretty scared to say so around her classmates. She was grateful for Kageyama’s excuse now, although she felt bad for lying to Suga senpai.

 

As the upperclassmen all cheerfully began to head to Ukai’s shop, unaware of the first year’s predicament, the first years milled about behind the rest of a team a bit, giving each other looks, trying to figure out a way to get away from the rest of the team.

 

“We should probably just go with them, then go look after eating.” Yamaguchi decided for them, not wanting to ditch the upperclassmen now that Kageyama had said they were going to get food, he began walking after his senpais, further making his point. Yachi nodded enthusiastically and followed, if they did go and get food then they hadn’t really lied right? Kageyama looked like he was going to argue but Tsukishima rolled his eyes and followed after them as well, making it three against two in favor of going. At this Kageyama huffed and followed. Hinata whined from behind them, he looked ready to tear his hair out, instead he took a deep breath then bounded after them, walking his bike as he went.  _ As long as I get to show them eventually _ he thought.

 

By the time they finished eating and managed to get away from the group (they had waited until all the upperclassmen had left so as not to appear suspicious by all heading in the same direction) it was very late. And very dark.

“Ar-are you guys sure this is a good idea…” Yachi trailed off.

 

“It is pretty late..” Yamaguchi admitted, “Way later than we probably should be out... and especially in an area affected by the aether…” He began to look nervous. Kei guessed that Tadashi knew he was an apόkosma and was worried about entering the aether when they got there. Entering the aether was also more common at night and for newer, inexperienced, or just less powerful apόkosma it was sometimes difficult to control yourself from entering or leaving the aether.

 

“Let's just go quick and get this over with.” Kageyama said.

 

“Yeah come onnnn you guys promised!” Hinata whined.

 

Yamaguchi looked to Tsukishima, expecting him to make their decision.

Kei was torn on what they should do, on the one hand, like Kageyama he just wanted to get this over with, on the other he couldn't help but agree with Yamaguchi that this might be a bad idea, especially if any of them entered the aether. He weighed the options of what might happen if they were to enter the aether; he knew Kageyama was powerful, but he was a Keres like himself and Yamaguchi, in fact he and Kageyama knew each other in the aether. Kageyama didn't know who Tsukishima was outside of the aether while in the aether of course, or who he himself was for that matter, but in both worlds they had met. Kei wouldn't exactly call Kageyama his friend in either, but that was okay as long as he didn't try to fight them, so he had a feeling they’d be okay when it came to him. Kei had also sensed for a while now that Hinata was an apόkosma, and a powerful one at that; but he couldn't sense which side he was on — whether he was a Keres or a Phyros. Regardless, if Hinata were the only Phyros there he couldn't really cause trouble, even if he was pretty powerful. He moved his gaze to Yachi, who he had never considered in terms of the aether before. Either she wasn’t an apόkosma or she wasn’t a very powerful one, he would have felt her power otherwise. He stretched his senses to their limits to try to sense something from her and may have felt a faint pulse of power but he wasn’t really sure. He couldn't gauge any more than that without entering the aether. He shrugged after surveying the group, “What’s the worst that could happen?” He hadn’t really meant to say that much out loud but it answered their questioning looks just the same. Yamaguchi looked scared, as did Yachi. “Nothing too bad can happen.” He said, trying his best to reassure them, he also tried to smile, which seemed to ease Yamaguchi’s anxiety a bit, but only seemed to frighten Yachi more. They didn’t question how he knew what would happen. Kageyama and Hinata were  too baffled just at the fact that he had smiled in a seemingly non mocking way.

 

The group began walking in silence; save for Hinata who was chattering on and on about how cool it was and how they’d see the left over marks in the earth and the broken trees for sure. Kei mostly tuned the boy out, hearing small snippets here and there about the bright flash of light the boy had seen and such. Suddenly he stopped walking. Yamaguchi nearly walked into him, he looked up in surprise. “What is it Tsuki?” he asked in bewilderment.

 

“Nothing, just remembered something. Don’t worry about it.” He continued walking, his face giving away nothing, but his mind was elsewhere.  _ If Hinata was an apόkosma how did he remember everything like the light? Was he really so powerful that he could enter and leave the aether at will and had chosen not to enter despite those around him being in such a state?  _ Tsukishima found this hard to believe, he sensed power from the boy but not that much. The only other possible explanation was that the boy was an apόkosma but hadn’t awakened yet and realized this himself. This would lead to him not entering the aether, but still being able to witness events between other apόkosma. Kei concluded that this must be the case, after all he certainly wouldn’t put it past the short redhead to be an extremely powerful apόkosma and not even realize it. He wanted to laugh — Hinata sure was clueless, and not just when it came to schoolwork apparently.

 

When they reached their destination at first glance it appeared to just be a stretch of road through the mountains and the woods, exactly identical to the road they had been walking on for a while now. The only indication they had received that they were there was Hinata looking around, jumping into the air with a yell, then suddenly bounding off the side of the road and into the woods, dropping his bike in the ditch along the way. “IT WAS OVER HERE!” he yelled over his shoulder to them, gaining speed with his excitement, running through the grass along the edge of the forest effortlessly despite the fact that it was probably half his height.  

 

Kageyama ran after him, “OI HINATA SLOW DOWN!” Tsukishima trailed behind Kageyama, not quite running but lengthening his strides so as to speed up, Yamaguchi was half jogging behind him, frequently glancing over his shoulder as he went at Yachi who was struggling a bit to keep up through the tall grass and brush that lined the side of the road. The brush got bigger until it became full on bushes and soon trees. Tadashi helped Yachi a couple times when she fell and reassured her that he and ‘Tsuki’ wouldn’t leave her out here. Kei had slowed his pace a bit to keep in Yamaguchi and Yachi’s line of vision, but he soon lost sight of Kageyama and Hinata because of this. They were also in the middle of the forest.

 

“God damn it where the hell are we?” He said in frustration, coming to a stop. He looked around, the trees were thick and tall, and the underbrush had disappeared as they got farther under the canopy of the trees, the ground was now only lined with twigs and leaves and the occasional larger stick or log. It had also gotten much darker as they went, the sky had already been dark but the moon and distant city lights had provided some light before, now it was nearly pitch black with the trees blocking the light source. The darkness distorted the once green and brown forest into shades of dark blue and grey and the slight breeze made the image even more eerie. Tsukishima surveyed his surroundings for something he might recognize, while he was looking around Yamaguchi and Yachi managed to catch up to him. Yachi let herself fall back into a sitting position on the ground while Yamaguchi doubled over placing his hands on his knees to keep himself upright, both struggling to catch their breath. 

 

“Now what do we do?” Yamaguchi asked once he had composed himself a bit.

 

Yachi whimpered, “Are we-Are we lost?” she managed, eyes filling with tears at the idea. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, partially for comfort and partially because it was cold.

 

“No we walked in a straight line so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get back to the road from here.” Tsukishima explained with a slight nod in the direction they had come from.

 

Yachi sighed in relief. Looking around at her surroundings, however, she shivered; she still didn’t like being out in the woods so late at night.

 

“What about Kageyama and Hinata?” Yamaguchi asked anxiously.

 

“Those idiots are the ones at fault for running off like that.” Tsukishima replied coldly.

 

Suddenly yelling could be heard in the distance, it was far off and muted by the trees but still distinctly Hinata’s voice.

 

“Speaking of the idiots…” Tsukishima sighed to himself. He began walking off in the direction the voice had come from.

 

“Here Yachi,” Yamaguchi held his hand out to her to help her up, she took it gratefully and the pair followed Tsukishima deeper into the woods.

 

They only got a couple steps when Kei stopped dead in his tracks, he turned around quickly and motioned for Yamaguchi and Yachi to be silent, his eyes wide behind his glasses. Yamaguchi gave him a questioning and frightened look. Yachi had to resist from crying out in fear.

 

_ Crack _

 

A twig broke behind Yachi, her face went white and her eyes somehow widened further. She was frozen with fear and unable to turn around. Kei needed to enter the aether, he had sensed the Phyros behind them but not soon enough, would Yachi and Yamaguchi enter the aether with him though? He was surprised that they hadn't yet with other apόkosma so close nearby; he guessed that his own state of not being in the aether had kept them grounded. 

_ Crack _

Another twig broke. A hand appeared behind Yachi, reaching towards her shoulder. Kei didn't have time to think about what would happen, he took a running step toward Yachi, shadows enclosing around him as he passed by her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the cliffhanger please dont hate me, i was going to post the next chapter immediately with this one but then in a fit of sleep deprivation after one of my 8 am finals i decided I didnt like the next chapter and deleted the whole thing lol... which is probably for the best because what I write now for it will probably be much better but still. Thank you so much for all the feedback I've gotten I really hope I don't disappoint any of you as this fic progresses!!


	4. Chapter 4

Takanobu (Aone) froze, hand midair. He hadn’t expected the tall blond boy to be on the defense so quickly. To be honest he hadn’t expected any of them to be there at all. When he sensed apόkosma nearby he had gone to investigate and upon realizing that the girl was a fellow Phyros he had become curious. Now that he was closer, despite not turning her around like he had intended, he realized that he didn’t know her. He retracted his hand from where it hovered above the girl’s shoulder and stared the blonde male down, waiting to see what his next move would be. 

 

Kei, likewise, stared at the taller apόkosma before him, he had tensed when he recognized the Phyros in front of him. He kept his hands open at his sides, palms facing forward just in case. “What are you doing here?” He asked at last, realizing the other wasn’t going to speak up first.

 

Takanobu paused. He wasn’t sure how to respond, he usually preferred to talk as little as possible but this would require some explaining. Not to mention he couldn’t exactly tell the Prince of Darkness his real reason for coming out here, on the King’s orders. 

 

“I sensed a Phyros.” He said simply, tilting his head slightly to Yachi in explanation. Kei turned his head to give Yachi a confused look, she didn’t offer any explanation however, looking terrified and confused herself. 

 

“Er Kei right? I think I heard someone call you that last time, I hope that isn’t wrong- uh- where are we? And who are they?” Yamaguchi spoke up.

 

Kei felt like facepalming. Of course Yamaguchi and Yachi had entered the aether when he had, so they now had no idea who they were. This would be fun.

 

“He’s the Head Knight of the Phyros’ Royal Guard, just below the King and his loyal lapdog. If this turns into a fight I want you take her and run.” He said this is in a bored, almost annoyed tone.

 

Tadashi flinched. He didn’t know the hierarchy of the Phyros officials but Head Knight definitely sounded important. And powerful. He nodded solemnly at the blonds request. 

 

“I’m not looking to fight.” Aone tried to explain, he still didn’t budge, however.

 

Kei remained tense. “This is her first time awakening as an apόkosma, I believe. Isn’t that right Yachi?”

 

She squeaked in fear, “I-I guess, I don’t know? I’m... an apόkosma?” Her voice cracked on the word, she’d always dreamed of being a Phyros like the ones she worshipped and being in a position of royalty within the Dream Kingdom, but she’d never pictured what it would be like to first enter the aether. She’d noticed the annoyed tone the tall blond boy in front of her had used when he’d mentioned the other Phyros, did that mean he was a Keres? She was scared, why was she with a Keres if she was a Phyros? She was a Phyros wasn’t she?

 

“You’re a Phyros, probably a healer if I’m sensing correctly.” The blond supplied, as if he could read her mind.

 

“Then why...” This came from the freckled boy behind her.

 

“I don’t want him taking her to the Dream Kingdom because if she doesn’t go there’s still a chance of keeping her out of this whole mess. There’s no reason for her to get involved in a war she doesn’t know if she doesn’t need to.” Kei replied, knowing it would anger the Phyros in front of him. He had hoped that his explanation had made an impression on her and that she’d want to leave the aether and go home, instead she seemed to gain some confidence. 

 

“The Dream Kingdom is where I’m meant to be.” She said firmly. It was the most sure he’d ever heard her speak. His shoulders sagged.

 

“I suppose then it cannot be helped.” He stepped out of her way and looked to her, expecting her to go with the larger Phyros stranger.

 

She looked up at him and instead seemed to lose her confidence again, she turned to look back to the boy with the freckles expectantly, she’d deemed him the least scary of the three.

 

Tadashi realized that she was looking to him for advice, “Um I’m kinda new to this whole apόkosma thing as well..” He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “But if it means anything to you, the other night some Phyros attacked me for no reason and he save me.” He said, pointing at Tsukishima.

 

This confused her. Weren’t the Phyros supposed to be good? They’d never attack someone for no reason right? And the Keres were supposed to be evil disgusting monsters, but these two looked pretty normal to her... She looked back to Kei, then to the white haired stranger. She had to admit he looked the scariest, his permanent glare and lack of eyebrows definitely didn’t help things.  _ The skinny blond isn’t exactly friendly looking either though… _ She thought, turning her gaze back to Kei. 

 

What would her mother do? Her mother was a devoted believer in the Phyros and prayed to the Aetheror daily, she would definitely want her to go to the Dream Kingdom and join their ranks. But that was because she believed the Phyros were wonderful saviors… what if her mother had been wrong? What would she do if she found out they weren’t their saviors?

 

“Aren’t the Phyros supposed to be our saviors?” She asked shakily. Kei had to restrain himself from reacting badly to her statement, he really couldn’t stand those who prayed to the Dream Kingdom outside of the aether without knowing the first thing about the state of apόkosma affairs. 

 

“It isn’t really that black and white.” At this Yamaguchi laughed, probably thinking it was a pun, Kei glared at him which shut him up quickly. “I meant morally. Neither side is really good or bad, they are at war though, that’s about the only thing the media gets right.”

 

“Then… if I’m a Phyros shouldn’t I go help the other Phyros?” She asked honestly.

 

At last the stranger spoke up again, although to Yachi they were all strangers, “Not necessarily.”

 

This shocked Kei, and Tadashi as well by the wide eyes they shared, all three turned to stare at Takanobu awaiting further explanation. Why wasn’t he trying to convince her to come with him?

 

“Some Keres join the Dream Kingdom, and some Phyros join the Twilight Kingdom. It isn’t common but it happens.” He shrugged. Kei wanted to agree but didn’t say anything, he knew of several Keres who had left them to join the other Kingdom, often their most powerful members, unfortunately. The King was good at convincing others and getting what he wanted. 

 

“Well… I don’t know which I want to join.” She said.

 

“That’s what I’m saying,” Kei replied cooly, “You shouldn’t join either if you can help it, you’ll just get involved in this already unnecessary war. It would be best to just go home and avoid the aether as much as possible.”

 

“I can do that?” She’d never heard of such a thing before, then again it sounded like a lot of what she’d heard of the aether was wrong.

 

Yamaguchi nodded as well. Kei had given him this same spiel the last time he’d entered the aether after saving him. Tadashi had insisted on joining the Twilight Kingdom in the hopes of one day repaying the blond, however, much to Kei’s annoyance.

 

“Well, I should be going then.” Takanobu announced and made to walk around their little group and head farther into the forest. There was no point in him staying here if she didn’t wish to come with him.

 

“You aren’t going to try to force her to join you?” Kei asked, his shock and curiosity winning out over common sense. He’d interacted with Aone before but the guy never talked much so he didn’t really know anything about him other than the fact that he was an incredible fighter and that he worked under the King.

 

“That’s not what I came here to do, I only approached because I noticed her presence and wondered if it were a Phyros I knew. I see no point in forcing her to join us if she doesn’t wish to.” 

 

And with that he continued on his way into the woods, disappearing nearly instantly and silently, and leaving a somewhat awestruck Tsukishima Kei in his wake. Any of the other Knights would have forced her to go with them for sure, mostly just out of fear of the King questioning why they hadn’t recruited another potential servant. Some because they’d insist on having another girl amongst their ranks. Kei suspected that Aone, like the King’s lapdog, didn’t fear or respect the King nearly as much as the King thought they did...

 

…

 

Kageyama was having a hell of a time keeping up with the stupid redhead, and worse the others didn’t seem to be following behind them any more so if he lost sight of the ginger he’d be stranded in the woods alone. Normally Hinata and himself were just about equal when it came to speed, if their nearly daily races to practice were anything to go by. But now in a forest with underbrush and tree branches to dodge, the smaller one was much faster, easily dodging under and around things that Kageyama, being the taller of the two, often got stuck in. No wonder they’d lost Tsukishima. He had a feeling that that had more to do with Tsukishima just not caring enough to catch up with them, however, than his height. He hurried onwards panting with the effort of it as he went, he’d nearly lost sight of the bundle of red hair once again. Probably would have by now if the boys hair hadn’t been such an ungodly bright color. “HINATA.” He yelled, “SLOW. DOWN.” 

 

“BUT KAGEYAMA IT’S RIIIIIIIGHT…..” Hinata took several more steps, “HERE!” He yelled with triumph, finally coming to a stop and turning around to face Tobio with his hands on his hips a smug expression on his face. The idiot wasn’t even winded, Kageyama would forever wonder where the boy got his energy. Once he’d slowed to a stop in front of Hinata and caught his breath a bit he surveyed the area. There had definitely been some apόkosma here the other night, he could practically smell the traces of their powers radiating in the air. Several branches and trees were all knocked backwards from the hole of upturned dirt they seemed to be standing in as well. 

 

“Okay point made, let's go home.” He could feel the familiar tug of the aether, it was lapping at him, waves in an ocean trying to pull him under the current. He was able to resist the pull but he'd still rather get out of here sooner rather than later, entering the aether with Hinata near by just sounded like a bad idea to him. 

 

“But what about the others!” Hinata whined in response, latching onto Kageyama’s arm while he was at it to stop the taller from leaving.

 

Kageyama looked back the way they'd come, he was about to retort about how it was Hinata’s own damn fault that the others weren't here, when he sensed something. An apόkosma... Wait now there were several? Shit some people nearby must have all entered the aether. He opened his mouth to tell Hinata what he felt but shut it just as quickly, if he mentioned sensing other apόkosma to Hinata then he would know that Kageyama was one himself. His mother and father had always stressed that he needed to keep such things to himself for safety. He looked down at the small redhead who was still clutching his arm, Hinata was staring back in the same direction he had been looking.  _ Maybe he senses it too _ . Kageyama sighed in relief, he didn’t have to out himself if Hinata sensed them as well. 

 

“We should go that way.” Hinata announced and began heading off in the direction Kageyama had gotten the feeling from.

 

“Wait no, idiot! There’s apόkosma over there!” Shit. Hinata stared at him in confusion, then with a look of understanding. Well too late now.

 

“YOU’RE AN APΌKOSMA? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME- WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON? ARE YOU A KERES I BET YOU ARE CAUSE YOU’RE MEAN!” 

 

Hinata was practically climbing on him while he bombarded him with questions, Kageyama cut in before he could ask any more, “CAUSE YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO TELL PEOPLE YOU IDIOT, AND HOW WOULD I KNOW UNLESS I’M IN THE AETHER?”

 

Hinata paused in both his verbal and physical assault which the taller boy was thankful for. His voice was smaller now, he seemed embarrassed, “Well I don’t know.. I always hear stories of people doing things like leaving marks on their arm to tell their other self information.” The boy looked up from where he had been staring at the ground.

 

“Well I guess I never have.” Kageyama said solemnly.

 

Suddenly Hinata’s eyes gained their glint again, “Are you sure?” He smiled, then pounced on Kageyama, aiming to lift the sleeves of his black jacket.

 

“Idiot then everyone would have seen by now during volleyball practice!” Kageyama yelled, throwing the redhead off of him once more.

 

Hinata paused once more but then his eyes widened with excitement, “Then what about your thighs!” He moved to lift the edge of Kageyama’s shorts, only a little, it wasn’t like he was intending to strip the other, but Kageyama shrieked in fear and backed up, tripping over a root in the process and falling to the ground.

 

Normally Hinata might have laughed at the other, but he was too surprised by the reaction.

 

“Sorry, I-,” Kageyama paused thinking of an excuse, “I’m ticklish there. And there’s nothing there, don’t you think I’d know by now?” He gave Hinata a cold glare.

 

Hinata pouted in response, “I just wanted to know. It’s not everyday you find out your best friend is an apόkosma.”

 

Kageyama sighed and placed his hands on the ground beside him, intending to push himself up from the ground, but before he had a chance he felt a wave of energy. He fell back down in shock, he had begun to sense a presence behind them, much closer now but before he could say anything he felt a jolt and was suddenly being enclosed by shadows. _Shit._ _I’m entering the aether._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably going to end up being a lot more than 20 chapters by the way this is going


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT: I'm kinda playing the unreliable narrator here by jumping around from different points of view, just something to keep in mind when reading? Like I'm never straight up stating what is fact only what the characters think as I hop between their POVs so if a character thinks something that is wrong well... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> ALSO: If the characters seem a little ooc in the aether, that might be intentional? While I try to keep their personalities mostly similar they do forget a pretty large chunk of their lives while in the aether and our experiences are a big part of what impacts our personality, so in some cases this may make the characters a little different when in the aether than outside. This will be most prevalent in Kageyama who, like in the real world is very skilled in the aether, but unlike the real world he's never had others turn their backs on him in the aether so things like being called 'King' don't bother him there as you will see. Contrarily Noya and Tanaka met and befriended each other in both the aether and non-aether and have presumably gotten up to similar shenanigans in both worlds so they're probably the most similar in both.  
> Just something to keep in mind when reading!

Takanobu (Aone) had found what he was looking for. Or more, who he was looking for. He’d only ever seen the boy before when he was very young, but the orange hair was still easily recognizable. And regardless, even if he had not recognized the boy by his hair, he could still sense him. He could definitely see why the King had wanted to get his hands on him once more, he could tell the boy was very powerful. The Keres who was with him, Kageyama, was also very powerful, though. Takanobu squinted in annoyance when he spotted the familiar Keres. He had fought him before, on one of the King’s many missions to capture the Umbror, and had lost. This time he vowed not to lose.

 

He tensed when he saw the Keres standing in front of the boy, Kageyama didn’t make a move to attack, however. Instead he was looking back at the redhead with curiosity and nothing more.

 

_Was the Keres not here to take him?_ Takanobu wondered.

  
  


The first thing Tobio had noticed upon entering the aether was Aone. The Phyros’ presence was deafening, or perhaps blinding was the better way to put it? Aone nearly shown with the white light of his power, his hair somewhat did. Tobio was puzzled by the others appearance. He wasn’t on guard duty currently, so why did the Phyros wish to fight him? If the King wanted Tobio then surely he would have sent someone else for him? Aone was the highest ranking Knight of the Dream Kingdom, he should be standing guard at the castle at all times. Before he could question things further he felt the presence of another person behind him, a very short boy with messy red hair and piercing golden eyes he found upon inspection. Tobio stared at him. The redhead stared back. Then his golden eyes moved on to Aone before flashing back to Tobio's. “What’s going on?” The boy asked him in confusion.

 

“You’re coming with me.” Aone answered, despite not being the one who was asked. He stepped forward heading towards the ginger but before he could get a hold on him Kageyama stepped in front of the shorter boy.

 

“I don’t think so.” As soon as he said the words he wondered why he’d done so. He certainly didn’t want to pick a fight with the large Phyros if he could avoid it and he didn’t even know the redheaded boy, so why was he protecting him? Something told him he needed to. Maybe it was just the fact that the taller Phyros wanted him? He must be important then right? After all they were always trying to get the Umbror… Yes that must be why he felt the need to stop Aone from taking the smaller boy, because clearly the boy was of importance to the Dream Kingdom. As a Knight of the Twilight Kingdom it was his duty to stop them from achieving their goals.

 

His mind made up, he straightened his posture and widened his stance from between Aone and the mysterious redheaded boy. Aone backed up a bit and raised his arms anticipating a fight.

 

“Kageyama… what’s going on?” That voice… why did it sound so familiar? It came from the ginger boy but Tobio was sure he’d never seen him before in his life. Well his aether life at least. Who knew what kind of relations they may have outside the aether, he couldn’t exactly remember that right now, perhaps that’s why the boy sounded familiar, they knew each other in the non-aether. He decided not to worry about it for now, he could ask the boy later what their true relations were.

 

“I’m not really sure but either way, I still don’t think you should just blindly go with him.” He said at last when he realized the boy was still waiting for a response.

 

“Aone?” The boy questioned, “Why not, he’s never done anything wrong has he?” The redhead’s head tilted in confusion.

 

Now it was Takanobu’s turn to be surprised. _Why did Shouyou recognize him?_ He had been a small child when Takanobu had seen him last, there was no way he remembered him, yet he’d said his name. Had he not entered the aether?

 

Upon this realization Takanobu’s eyebrows shot up, or the skin where his eyebrows should be at least, as he lacked them. _How had the boy not entered the aether with two very powerful apόkosma before him that had?_ Perhaps they’d underestimated the boys power. _Why would he chose to not enter the aether when two apόkosma were present, though? Did he know of his own importance and do it purposely?_

 

Hinata, however, was just as puzzled as the two of them. He didn’t understand why Aone was here or why he wanted Hinata to come with him some where… they were in the middle of nowhere in the woods at 10 or so at night, where the hell had the Date Tech player even come from??? He looked between the two taller boys who seemed to be having a staring match. He didn’t want them to start fighting over him and he supposed if it came down to it he trusted Kageyama more. He was his teammate and partner after all, and in his eyes, his best friend, though he wasn’t always sure that Kageyama shared this sentiment. He also would never ever admit it to a single soul, but he might have had a very small crush (A/N: very big) on the black haired setter as well. This thought made him blush, he hoped the others didn’t spot it in the darkness.

 

Hinata took a few steps forward placing himself directly behind Kageyama and grabbed the back of his teammate’s sleeve between his fingers nervously, “I’d rather go with Kageyama if you don’t mind.” He said it with as much courage as he could muster to Aone.

 

Aone grunted. He didn’t even try to convince Hinata otherwise he just ran straight towards them. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible and he could tell the ginger had already made up his mind, which meant he’d have to use force. Hinata flinched, he hadn’t expected the taller boy to attack him for his response. He watched Aone lift his arms up on either side of himself in a way that made it look like he was lifting something heavy despite his arms being empty. The ground shook, however, and next thing Hinata knew, the trees behind the tall blocker were being ripped from the earth! When Aone took another step forward he angled his arms towards them and Hinata realized, too late, what was happening. The trees all came hurtling toward the two of them who were still standing in the open clearing that had been made the night before.

 

Luckily, the attack was not too fast for Tobio, he had seen what the Phyros was doing and had began working his own telekinetic abilities. He lifted his hands in front of himself and the trees all stopped in their trajectories at once. Tobio paused to take a slow breath of the night air. Then he smirked and sent the mass flying back towards Aone, much faster than it had come. So fast that the blocker barely had time to raise a hand in front of himself to form a desmi to block the onslaught.

 

The trees seemed to explode into little pieces upon impact with the ball of light, bits of bark and wood flying in all directions and the distinct smell of burning wood filling the air. Some of these pieces had hit Takanobu in their path, leaving little scratches in their wake which began to bleed, others burned small spots through his clothing. Tobio grinned broadly. He was the best of the psychic Keres, both in telekinetic and telepathic ability. Well, except maybe Tsukishima, whose mind he still hadn’t been able to read despite years of trying. But other than that he was the best at both types of magic. Aone must know this by now so why did he use a telekinetic attack instead of his powerful desmi against Tobio? Tobio heard a whimper from behind him which told him why; Aone didn’t want to hurt Hinata. Aone’s desmi was scary powerful but he didn’t have much control over it at times, and if he accidently hit Hinata instead of Tobio… well that would be bad for both of them.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Tobio tried to be comforting, but he didn’t really know the ginger kid that well in this world so he wasn’t certain how much his words would help.

 

“Kageyama!” The redhead gasped his name with such emotion and shock at what Tobio had said, his eyes going wide. Tobio questioned what kind of relationship he had with this boy if his attempt to be comforting had had that much of an effect on him. He knew he wasn’t the best with emotions but he still at least tried in the aether... Maybe his non-aether self didn’t try quite as hard. He couldn’t help but frown at this thought.

 

The boys reaction led him to the thought that perhaps the shortie was important to him in some way, after all they’d gone off into the woods together at night apparently? That took a lot of trust when one was an apόkosma. He changed his mind as to why the ginger needed to be protected from the Phyros, sure he seemed to be a powerful asset to the Dream Kingdom but more importantly Kageyama seemed to care for him in the non-aether, which meant he must be protected at all costs. With that thought in mind, he attacked back with even more force than before. This time he lifted Aone himself from the ground and threw his body to the side like a doll, letting his form smash into a broken tree in the process. Tobio hadn’t even lifted his hands.

 

Aone growled as he pushed himself up from the ground in pain. Now he’d really have to fight dirty, there wasn’t any way he could see himself winning otherwise. He just hoped that if he hit the kid as well the King wouldn’t punish him too badly. Afterall, their healers would be more than capable of taking care of the kid if such a thing did happen. He just hoped it wouldn’t come to that, both because he didn’t like being punished but also because it seemed the boy knew him outside of the aether and he didn’t want to ruin the boys impression of his non-aether self by being a total dick in the aether. Fighting with Tobio was to be expected between apόkosma of opposite sides, but needlessly hurting someone who was not in the aether was a bit much.

 

He lifted his hands, palms open, towards the Keres and sent a smaller experimental desmi his way. Tobio jumped to pull a tree in front of himself just in time to stop it. The Keres was a very powerful psychic, but he didn't possess any of the usual shadowy powers that went along with being a Keres such as the shields or the shadowy balls of energy the others used in fights.

 

Nor did Tobio have the teleportation skills to get both himself and the ginger boy out of here, he realized with a grimace. He considered using his telepathy to try to ask someone nearby for help, and even stretched his senses to the limit to feel if anyone were nearby, but all he got were remnants of Keres who had already left the area. Shit was that Tsukishima he’d sensed? He sure could have used the annoying blond right about now. He didn't like the taller male much, but he had to admit he was powerful. He could tell the other Keres had already left, however. That ruled outside help out.

 

Next he tried to reach Aone’s mind. If he could control him, like before, then this would be over in seconds. When he reached his senses out into the Phyros, however, he faced a wall. He couldn’t enter, no matter how many times he threw himself at it mentally; it just wouldn’t budge. What was this? Tobio had never met anyone other than Kei who could stop him from entering their mind so completely… It was as if Aone had formed a wall of solid iron within his mind.

 

Still stunned by this realization, Tobio was unable to react fast enough when Hinata yelled out in warning, all he saw was a flash of light and suddenly Tobio's body was filled with pain. It was white hot all over and his ears were ringing so loudly that he just barely heard the redhead cry out “Kageyama!” from behind him before everything went black.

  
  


Hinata was shaking. He couldn’t stop the tears that fell down his face as he fell to his knees. He stared up at Aone in confusion. _Why would he do that? why would they fight like that? Why would he hurt him?_ And the worst, _Was he dead?_

 

He clutched Kageyama’s form to his chest as he wept, gently cradling the setter in his lap. He was so angry and upset, and most of all scared. As much as he liked arguing with the idiot he cared for him a lot too. He couldn’t stand the sight of him being in pain and then falling to ground like that, he wanted to get it the image out of his mind but couldn’t. What was happening to them? He’d only wanted to show them… He never meant for any of this to happen. He began to sob.

 

Hinata was so torn up that he didn’t notice when Aone wrapped his arm around him and the setter. He barely even noticed the sting of wind blowing past them as they were swept away.

 

(A/N: While Keres can teleport, Phyros can move at the speed of light. This is because Phyros can literally turn into light and Keres into shadows, light moves across the planet and shadows spring up anytime there is something to block it instantly)

 

Next thing he knew he and Kageyama’s body were unceremoniously being thrown to the ground. A ground made of gold and white marble tiles.

 

Hinata looked up in surprise when he realized his surroundings had changed. He found himself in a mostly white marble room, with pillars, and stairs leading up to what may have been a throne at one end. The room had odd brightly lit patches of light that shone down in angled beams, making large circles on the floor.

 

Still crying, he had trouble seeing much beyond the ground nearest to him, the tears in his eyes blurring his vision. He thought he spotted Aone near one of the marble columns, perhaps talking to someone who stood behind it? He looked at the ground behind the column but didn’t spot a shadow other than Aones…

 

Soon Aone returned and grabbed him once more, this time lifting him from under the arms to pry him off of Kageyama. Instantly, he began to scream.

 

After a moment of struggling with him, “Fine, FINE SHUT UP ALREADY YOU CAN TAKE HIM WITH YOU.” Aone yelled back, grabbing both of them now and angrily dragging them off. “You do realize he’s going to die regardless without a proper Phyros healer right?” The fact that Hinata still hadn’t entered the aether made it clear to Aone that the boy couldn’t do so. Whether it was because he faced some sort of binding curse or just hadn’t learned how yet he wasn’t sure but he figured he didn’t have to worry about the redhead healing the troublesome Keres himself without access to his powers. Truthfully, Aone felt bad for the kid. He hadn’t meant to kill the Keres, just maim him enough to snag Shouyou and run. It was too late now however and his duties to the Kingdom came above all else so he let the boy weep.

 

The pair was shoved into a small room with a small single window at the back. If Hinata had looked out the window he would have discovered that they were at the top of a very tall golden tower, but he was a bit preoccupied. A thick golden door was slammed in his face and the distinct sound of a lock locking could be heard. Still, Hinata did not budge from his protective stance over Kageyama. He continued to weep, his body curled around the other’s until at long last he passed out in exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry i didn't kill kageyama also pls dont hate me


	6. The Twilight Kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope there arent any mistakes i didnt read over this before posting it e-e also some not so subtle t.s. eliot references in this chapter lol

 

This was both the second time Tadashi had been to the Twilight Kingdom in the last two days and the second time he had been to it period. Kei, the tall blond, had teleported him here the night before after the Phyros had attacked them. Kei had told him that, after waiting until day so that they could safely leave the Kingdom and return to the non-aether, he should avoid coming back at all costs. Tadashi, too curious about everything and thankful to the stranger before him had instead agreed to join the Kingdom the second he was asked and had also vowed to repay Kei one day. After saying so he had expected Kei to be angry but instead the blond had only rolled his eyes and turned away from Tadashi, for a second he thought he might have even seen the corner of the taller boys lips curve up into a small smile but quickly pushed the thought from his mind when he was approached by another Keres.

 

Joining the Kingdom wasn't actually too much of a commitment he learned when he met the guy in charge, someone with dark hair and a strong build by the name of Daichi. The man, or teen really, he was only a few years older than Tadashi himself Tadashi learned with surprise, had welcomed him kindly and had told him to make the Twilight Kingdom his home. Unlike the Dream Kingdom, pledging your allegiance to the Twilight Kingdom did not require you to fight for them when needed or do anything else for them in terms of the war. It really only meant agreeing  _ not _ to help the Dream Kingdom. Joining also meant that the Phyros would see you as an enemy, however, so you may be forced to fight by their hands regardless. But the Phyros already commonly attacked just about any Keres they met so Tadashi didn’t really see what the difference was. Here in the Twilight Kingdom he could safely learn to control his powers under the guidance of fellow Keres and, to his shock, one Phyros as well.

 

Sugawara had briefly accompanied Dachi in showing Tadashi around the Kingdom before announcing that he had been away long enough to raise suspicion and had made on his merry way. After he’d disappeared, and in a blur of bright white light no less, Daiche explained that Koushi was a Phyros who spied on the Dream Kingdom for them, but had sworn himself to the Twilight Kingdom. Tadashi was shocked to learn that things like this went on in the aether, he’d always thought it was as black and white as the media portrayed it, the Keres were bad and the Phyros were good, the end. But now it seemed to him that the outside world had very little knowledge of what the two Kingdoms were really like.

 

Tadashi himself didn't fully understand it all. According to Daichi, unlike the rest of the aether, the two Kingdoms didn’t really exist on the same plane as the rest of the real world. Non-apόkosma couldn't reach them here unless brought along by an apόkosma and apόkosma only could through use of their powers. That was what Daichi had told him at least, and he wasn't really sure how he felt about all of it but had simply nodded along so as not to look rude.

 

As they ventured through the castle they passed through corridors with midnight colored columns and archways and other beautiful blue and purple pieces of architecture. The whole thing seemed never ending. In a way it was; it was difficult to tell what was castle and what was the Kingdom’s town below because the two seemed to bleed together in a mess of spiked purple towers and indigo walkways. 

 

Tadashi couldn't help but gasp several times on their journey, they didn't go beyond the castle walls, but he saw a lot from some of the open walkways that were part of the castle and from tower windows with magnificent views. It would have taken much too long to explore the entirety of the the Kingdom in one night and Tadashi got the feeling that Daichi had duties he should probably be attending to as the head of the Kingdom. The whole Kingdom seemed to be built of purple agate and crystals and gemstones that were purple, blue and black. There were entire towers carved out of crystal and entire walkways made of agate. Many things like doors and fences were also made of a dark sparkly metallic material which Tadashi later learned was called hematite. The whole thing was beautiful.

 

The two walked through several castle corridors, passing various rooms filled with things like books and desks and others with what looked a bit like work out gear, things to help them learn to use their powers, he was told. At the end of one corridor they found a large ornate looking door with metal bars over it. The bars weren’t normal however, the metal seemed to be a metallic lilac color and the bars wound together, sometimes looking like vines with roses on them and other times looking like spiked spears to block the way.

 

“What's in there?” Tadashi asked nervously, pausing the glance back at the door as they passed it.

 

Daichi stopped and stared, he appeared to be thinking deeply about what sort of explanation to give. “Have you ever heard of the Umbror?” He asked at last almost solemnly.

 

Tadashi shook his head.

 

“Well the Umbror is the true leader of the Twilight Kingdom. The most powerful Keres of all; something like the Keres equivalent of the Aetheror.” Daichi explained carefully. Tadashi’s eyes widened. “It isn’t really too surprising that you haven’t heard of them, we try our best to keep their existence from the outside world...” Daichi said, eyeing the door almost fearfully. “We keep it a secret because the existence of such a being… well some believe it will only ever bring the world to despair and lead all who follow them to death.” His voice got quieter as he spoke and he broke his intense eye contact with Tadashi when he was done speaking to look at the ground instead. He normally wouldn’t tell a newcomer such things, for fear of scaring them off, but Kei had whispered to him earlier that this boy could be trusted. 

 

“But you don’t believe this?” Tadashi asked quietly.

 

“No I don’t.” Daichi replied, raising his eyes to meet Tadashi’s once more. 

 

“So this is…?” Tadashi trailed off, still looking at the door.

“The Umbror’s tower. The tallest and largest in the Kingdom.” From outside the castle Tadashi would notice later that the entire tower was made of obsidian.

 

Daichi didn’t say anything else as he led Tadashi back to where Kei had first teleported them, a large staircase that lead down to the main streets of the Kingdom, with a large fountain in the middle of the open square. Here Tadashi stopped walking and before he could say anything he realized that Daichi was gone from his side. He gazed around the area once more looking for a familiar face but saw none. Keres of all kinds passed through the square paying him no mind. Tadashi sat down on the steps to wait for morning. It may have been minutes that he waited there, or maybe hours. It was hard to be sure because the sun didn’t move in the sky, it was permanently just on the horizon, forever at twilight, beautiful oranges and purples filling the sky, here in the Twilight Kingdom.

  
  
  


Now a night later and under different circumstances Kei had once more teleported them to the Twilight Kingdom, this time with the blonde girl, Yachi, as well. Tadashi looked around and found that this time they were on one of the open walkways between towers that overlooked the main square. It may have been one of the many halls he had walked with Daichi yesterday, it was hard to tell with how vast the castle was. Kei had instantly jogged off frantically into the castle leaving a confused Tadashi and amazed Yachi in his wake. Yachi looked around at everything, in awe at the beauty of it all the way Tadashi had the night before. Tadashi still hadn’t gotten over the beauty of it all but his curiosity led to his glance following Kei instead. As soon as Kei made to round the nearest corner he came face to face with Daichi, nearly walking into him even. Tadashi wondered if the blond had purposely teleported them to near where the leader was in order to speak with him as soon as possible. The two were speaking frantically, their urgent voices even breaking Yachi from her state of awe, her eyes joined Tadashi’s in turning to stare at the two Keres in confusion. Suddenly Kei turned on his heel and with a huff stomped off into the castle. 

 

Daichi’s gaze followed the blond for a moment then he sighed and his eyes fell on the new comers. He straightened his shoulders, fixed his face into a false smile and made his way over to them.

 

“Ahh… not to worry about that, he just has a bit of a temper at times.” Daichi explained with a tight smile. “Nice to meet you, Yachi isn’t it? My name is Daichi.” He introduced himself kindly.

 

“Um where are we?” Yachi spoke before Tadashi could inquire as to what they had been arguing about. She then nearly screamed when she realized her rudeness and began to apologize profusely, bowing to the Keres leader for her mistake.

 

“Not to worry,” Daichi chuckled at her antics, “This is the Twilight Kingdom.” Daichi explained, his smile much softer and more genuine now.

 

Yachi looked pale at this realization as she looked around, “But I’m a Phyros, I shouldn’t be here…” she began to mumble, looking very nervous now in front of the leader.

 

“That’s alright, you can be Phyros or Keres here, we don’t mind so long as you don’t harm any who live here. In fact we even have a Phyros amongst our ranks, perhaps you’ll meet them later if what Kei has told me is true…” At this his face darkened a bit but his eyes lit up at the mention of Sugawara. Then with a look at her face he quickly added, “That doesn’t mean you have to join our ranks of course, you are but a guest here! Why don’t you and Tadashi go make yourselves comfortable somewhere until we get some of this settled?”

 

Yachi still looked scared but Daichi’s smiles and friendly tone seemed to sooth her a bit. Tadashi led the way into the castle and couldn’t stop himself from babbling about the beautiful Kingdom as they went, Yachi listened in awe.

 

To be perfectly honest Tadashi didn’t have a clue where he was going, still not familiar enough with the Kingdom and castle to know his way around. He confided this to Yachi and the two decided to go exploring instead of just sitting around somewhere waiting for Daichi’s return.

 

First Tadashi showed Yachi much of the castle but as the night progressed he admitted to wanting to see the lower town as well so the two set off into the village beyond the castle walls. There they were just as amazed by all the beautiful buildings and streets as they had been of the castle, all were still made out of the same beautiful purple and blue minerals as the castle and they enjoyed exploring the winding streets, with the beautiful castle walls and towers looming up above them in the distance.

 

This is where Kei found them hours later and in a very bad mood. “What on earth are you two doing out here?” He couldn’t stop his annoyance from pouring into his voice.

 

“We’re just exploring…” Tadashi defended, partially upset at the idea of doing something to upset the blond and partially offended by how mad Kei sounded, they hadn’t really been hurting anything had they?

 

“Well you should have remained nearby so I could easily find you if something were to happen.” Kei growled, then in a mumble which got quieter as he spoke, “And besides I’m not really supposed to leave the castle walls…”

  
This puzzled Tadashi and Yachi. Before they had time to ask, however, Kei had grabbed Tadashi by the arm, who had in turn grabbed Yachi’s, and they were dragged away back into the castle, Kei’s angry footsteps echoing as they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://oi64.tinypic.com/2ryjz7o.jpg approximate shitty drawing of the inner square of the Twilight Kingdom from my sketchbook  
> or if any of you like homestuck picture derse http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Derse?file=DarkKingdom.gif


	7. The Dream Kingdom

Looking back Takanobu felt bad for Hinata. He hadn’t been as close to the boy when he was young as the King had been—no one was allowed to get as close to him as the King—but he'd still spent a fair amount of time with the boy. He had been a newly appointed Knight at the time and was often put on guard duty of the child, otherwise known as babysitting Shouyou.

 

The King still watched over the boy more than anyone else in the Kingdom, his fascination with the young Phyros winning out over his other duties. But Takanobu had been second in this regard. And as much as he’d never admit it, Aone had treasured his time with the energetic toddler immensely. His boundless energy was infectious and he had a sort of sociable charm that was difficult to resist, it was no wonder that he was so spoiled by those around him. It probably didn’t help that those of the Dream Kingdom who were tasked with looking after the boy were all relatively young themselves either. All of the older Phyros (and Keres) had been killed off in the war, leaving mere high schoolers to take charge.

 

The war was a brutal thing. Takanobu’s generation (and The King’s) had been the first to come to the aether after the Great Extermination. Something huge had happened to wipe out all of the previous apόkosma, but no one was fully certain of what. Or not in the Dream Kingdom at least. Takanobu also suspected that the King may have had an idea, what with the resources that the vast castle had provided him upon his entry, but did not ask for details.

 

The King had only even taken charge of the Dream Kingdom because he had been the first Phyros to enter it. He had awoken as an apόkosma one day and found himself wandering the streets of an empty and abandoned Kingdom. Curiosity had gotten the best of him and he had explored the castle walls. Upon entry he had found several scrolls and books of ink splattered pages, filled with messy writing after writing.

 

It had seemed that the previous Phyros who had ruled here had scrambled together in their last moments in the Dream Kingdom to produce a set of rules and had left them for the first new Phyros who entered to find. The rules explained how the Kingdom was once run and why the Keres were so evil and therefore needed to be exterminated. As the one who had come across these quickly scribbled notes first, the King had taken it upon himself to follow their rule as best he could and began to rebuild the Dream Kingdom to it’s former glory.

 

Now time in the aether is different than the real world; a year in the real world can be nearly 50 in the aether. No one knows exactly how long the King spent alone in those castle walls, plotting and using his magical abilities to fix the place up.

 

Everyone in the Kingdom knows that the next to enter after the King was the King’s loyal guard. The guard rarely left the King’s side and on the surface appeared to be completely loyal to the King, following every word he said. To the higher Knights, who knew better, however, he was more of the King’s best friend than anything else. He often even called the King out on some of his more ridiculous ideas and berated his highnesses stupidity keeping him in line. Not long after the guard others has appeared and upon entry the King had commanded that they follow his lead in trying to live by the old set of rules. These first few to appear had become the majority of the King’s Royal Knights.

 

As others entered the aether and Dream Kingdom with time, some questioned his orders. The King himself also questioned them at times, but in the end he always made sure they were followed. He had to place trust in the Phyros who had lived before him, otherwise he was rebuilding the Kingdom and continuing the war for nothing. His Knights and guard backed him up.

 

Some of the rules were strict and seemed almost ridiculous but the new young Phyros who entered the Dream Kingdom were made to understand that it was not the King’s doing, but simply how things had always been. And if any questioned it the Royal Knights would take them out immediately, so everyone listened. This is what made the Dream Kingdom what it was, it had strict and regulated rules and those who joined were loyal to their King. In comparison the Twilight Kingdom was less put together in Takanobu’s eyes and for that he was grateful to their King.

 

The King was also well liked, despite being the one who maintained such rules. He was a very sociable person and a very talented Phyros, so it was difficult to say no when he asked things of you. The Royal Guard were the only ones who ever allowed themselves to question his rulings and often even joked with the King like they were all old friends, after all in aether time many of them had known each other for decades. Takanobu himself had only entered the aether and Kingdom for the first time 6 months ago in real time (25 years in the aether), but, due to his incredible power as a Phyros, had quickly risen in the ranks to be one of the King’s most highly appointed Knights.

 

Most apόkosma learn they are apόkosma and first begin entering the aether not long after puberty. This is when the King had first entered and likewise Takanobu and many of the other Knights. The King had just been a bit of an early bloomer in this regard it seemed. The Keres Kageyama had been as well. In the Twilight Kingdom Daichi Sawamura, like the King, had been the first the enter the aether. Upon entry he had not found anything dictating how the Kingdom should been run or explaining how it had once been like the King had. He also, contrary to the King, had made no move to take charge on his own. Upon being attacked by the Dream Kingdom, however, the Keres of the Twilight Kingdom had soon asked Daichi to lead them and he had reluctantly agreed. Nearly everyone entered the aether around when they entered high school, so with time more and more apόkosma had appeared in both Kingdoms and the war had continued to get more and more merciless.

 

There were sometimes exceptions to this rule about entering the aether, however, Hinata Shouyou being one of them. The redheaded boy had first entered the aether and found the Dream Kingdom at the very young age of 3. This was earlier than any other Phyros on record.

 

With time the King and Takanobu had learned that the boy was the exception to many common rules of the aether, another being the ability to travel through time. Keres rarely gained the ability to travel in time or the ability to see the future and past; for Phyros it was even more rare.

 

When doing some research, with the aid of the Kingdom’s non-aether representative, they had found that Hinata Shouyou was born just a year after Takanobu. So why had he shown up in the aether with them as a child? The King had guessed that Hinata Shouyou may have been the first Phyros with the ability of time travel to be born in over a hundred years. They had also speculated that upon entering the aether as a mere child and finding an empty Kingdom, the toddler had traveled to the nearest time in which the Dream Kingdom was occupied, a time when the King had rebuilt it and it was inhabited once more.

 

Not long after the boy had shown up and the King had pledged to watch after him, his immense power made him a crucial being in the aether, the boy had disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. Ever since they had been patiently (perhaps not so patiently on the King’s part) waiting for the boy to return to them. The King had already vowed to make the boy his Prince upon his arrival. As soon as the King had heard news of a familiar redhair being spotted in the mountains of the Miyagi Prefecture he had sent Takanobu to search for the boy.

 

Now, having just locked the familiar redhead in a tower with what he guessed was the boy’s dying friend, Takanobu couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Aone had been so caught up in simply doing as the King said lately that he had somewhat lost his compassion. After being ordered to kill countless Keres he had learned to push away all feeling for the tasks he was doing. Now, seeing the face he had once adored twisted in pain, Takanobu began to feel bad for what he had done.

 

He knows it would be against orders to heal the notoriously troublesome Keres, however. Kageyama was well known in the Dream Kingdom as a nuisance to their efforts. Which is why he sends not a healer, but a very kind Phyros none the less to check up on the boys.

 

….

 

When Koushi enters the room the sight that befalls him is not at all what he expects. He had been expecting a wounded Kagayama and either sleeping or perhaps crying Phyros from what the Knight had told him. Instead he comes across Kagayama clutching a small redheaded boy in astonishment. The Keres’ head snaps up when the door is opened and his wide eyes crinkle in happiness when he sees Suga’s familiar face, “Thank goodness, I don’t remember what happened but I need to get out of here fast and this kid needs some serious healing, I didn’t want to just leave him here and you know I can’t teleport anyone but myself-”

 

Koushi chuckled at the boy’s ramblings. He had a feeling that Kageyama had been torn on whether he should leave the redhead or not but had stayed out of fascination with the boy. Sugawara knew who the boy was, but thought it best not to say anything. He wasn’t sure how Daichi would react to his presence.

 

“Not to worry I’ll get you both out of here in no time, do you think if I let the magic guards down for just a second you could use your telekinetic abilities to destroy this place just a bit?” Koushi asked, looking at the room around them, “I need this break out to look convincing.”

 

“Sure.” Kageyama nodded, he uncrossed his legs and rose from the ground, bringing the ginger boy with him by grabbing the kid around the waist with his free arm. He then made eye contact with Sugawara and raised his other hand when the Phyros nodded.

 

The room exploded in sparkly marble dust, pieces of stone cracking and falling from the walls, ceiling and floor along the outside of the tower in a cacophony of crumbling and thudding as the pieces banged against things on their way down.

 

“Thanks,” Koushi grinned once the dust cleared a bit, “Now let’s get you two out of here and to Daichi.” He grabbed Kageyama by the arm and in a flash of light the three were gone.

  


Tobio had closed his eyes from the blinding light and when he opened them he was face to face with Daichi. He gulped. Daichi looked angry. Before the leader could say anything however Suga waved and said, “They’re all yours now Daichi, I have to be back.” Then disappeared again, back to the Dream Kingdom to defend his lie that the two had escaped, but not without giving Kageyama a sad look.

 

“Who is this?” Daichi asked, his arms crossed as he gave the boy a curious look.

 

Tobio froze for a moment then slowly turned to look down at the Phyros in his arms. The boy was still unconscious and the dark circles and puffiness of his eyes gave the appearance that he wasn’t in the best of shape.

 

“Uh- he was locked up with me… and I had a feeling we should help him....” Tobio trailed off as he spoke. Now that he had said it out loud it did sound pretty stupid. Who knew why the Phyros had been locked up, he was still a Phyros and therefor probably their enemy. Tobio let go of the boy with one arm to sheepishly run his hand through his hair, the action caused the boy slump over in Tobio's remaining arm rather unceremoniously. The ginger let out a small groan but didn’t wake.

 

Daichi walked them inside the castle and to a deserted room with a couch, “Put him there for now. I’ll lock the door and we’ll wait to see what happens to him, we can't use any of our remaining resources on a complete stranger.”

 

Reluctantly Tobio placed the boy on the couch, after taking a look at the boy's face however he turned back to Daichi, opening his mouth to argue.

 

“I don’t know what you were thinking by bringing him here.” Daichi cut him off. “They likely had him locked up for a good reason and using that time not to teleport away we could have lost you.” Daichi sighed and uncrossed his arms, looking away from Kageyama in the process.

 

Tobio realized now that Daichi had been worried about him. This made him feel worse about attempting to rescue the boy, he didn't even know him after all. He closed his mouth but sat down on the couch and raised the boy’s head into his lap, he was determined to wait, he couldn’t just leave him alone to die.

 

Daichi looked like he wanted to say something but instead gave him a sad look and mumbled something about having duties to attend to and made to leave the room. It was at that exact moment that two things happened however; one, Tsukishima Kei barged in from the hall, dragging two people behind him, two, the boy beside Tobio mumbled something and his eyelids began to flutter. Daichi stopped in his tracks.

 

“What’s happening here?” Kei asked Daichi, his eyes turning over Tobio and the boy beside him in inspection.

 

“I told Kageyama to leave that Phyros boy here to die, we don’t need to waste our few resources healing a Phyros who may be our enemy.” Daichi sighed. Kei’s eyes widened and he looked back to Daichi but didn’t say anything.

 

“Wha-at..” The boy beside Tobio croaked. His eyes opened and he blearily looked in Daichi’s direction upon hearing what had been said, then looked up at Tobio. “You’re not going to let me die are you Kageyama? I knew you hated me-” He groaned in pain, “But isn’t that a bit much?” He asked. His smile and eyes indicated to Tobio that he was joking, however. Tobio swallowed hard. He vaguely remembered now. He remembered fighting Aone in the woods and getting hit, and he remembered that the redhead had seemed to know him. Worst, however, was when he remembered the redhead crying and fighting to heal him in the tower by taking Tobio's wounds onto himself.

 

“Wait! Please can’t we heal him?” He pleaded, still looking down at the boy instead of at Daichi, he tried to keep his voice as even and clear as possible, but it broke a bit as he spoke. “He-He helped me. He healed me. I remember it now, I was the one who go hurt and he healed me in the tower. It's all my fault that he's like this, please.” The tears began to fall and his words fell to a pleading whisper.

 

Daichi turned back to him and frowned, as Keres none of them had the typical Phyros ability to heal others, instead they had to use less conventional means which required time and resources that they couldn’t afford to use on many of their fellow Keres during this brutal war, much less an outsider no matter how helpful he may be. He wasn't sure how to tell Kageyama this especially now that the boy was awake, he hated when he had to make decisions like this.  
  


When no one had replied to Kageyama’s request Hinata got scared. Why didn’t Daichi want to heal him? He was his teammate and he’d thought they were friends...

 

It was then that Hinata _finally_ realized what was going on. He was in the aether. He remembered the fight now. That had all taken place in the aether. This Kingdom and the tower had been part of the aether. People don’t know you in the aether. His friends didn’t remember him here. He felt stupid for not realizing all of this sooner.

 

He turned to look at each of them, first at Kageyama who was desperately avoiding eye contact by staring at his feet as he tried to stop his tears from falling, then to Daichi who had chosen to give Kageyama an apologetic look, next to Yachi and Yamaguchi who stood huddled behind Tsukishima and finally Tsukishima. His eyes filled with tears when he saw the lack of recognition on each of their faces in turn. He didn’t want to die like this, surrounded by his friends without them even knowing who he was. It was a horrible thought. His tears began to overflow.

 

When his eyes had moved to Tsukishima, however, he had been surprised to find the blonds eyes raised to meet his own. There was an odd look on his face… Tsukishima hadn’t recognize him… had he?

 

“He’s the Prince.” Kei announced, still staring at Hinata.

 

Daichi turned to stare at the blond. “What did you say?”

 

Tsukishima turned to face the Keres leader, “He’s the King’s long lost Prince.” He nodded in Hinata’s direction, “I guess he finally returned.”

 

Hinata didn’t understand what was being said but when Tsukishima turned to look at him once more Hinata saw it. The blond definitely knew who he was, he knew it.

 

Desperately Hinata turned to face the tall blond and tried to open his mouth to say something, anything to get the blond to help him, but before he could Daichi had turned on his heel and left, catching Tsukishima’s eyes in the process. “Then we really shouldn't have help him, no matter how kind or helpful he seems now, he's destined to kill many of us one day." Daichi said darkly as he left the room.

 

Kei sighed. He’d hoped the man would have enough sense to realize that the Prince could be a powerful asset if kept alive and sworn to them instead of the Phyros King. More than that he didn't want to watch Hinata die, he couldn't exactly explain why to the fellow Keres though without giving away his most well kept secret. And perhaps Daichi had a point... the Prince of Light was said to be the downfall of them all, what if keeping Hinata alive meant watching many others die one day? As their leader these were the things Daichi had to consider above all else after all.

 

Kageyama stared at the boy in stunned silence. He felt betrayed. This was the Prince. The Prince of Light. The one who was destined to kill many of his friends, possibly even himself with time. He’d thought maybe the boy had healed him because he had actually cared about him but he realized now that it had probably all been a trick set up by the King. There was no way someone so evil as the fabled Prince of Light had actually cared for him.

 

“Wait Kageyama, please!” Hinata cried out but the Keres didn’t look back, he couldn't bring himself to look at the boys face.

 

Yamaguchi shared a sad look with Yachi and gave the boy one more curious glance, then turned they turned together and both began to leave the room as well not knowing what else to do. Tsukishima began to do the same, but he gave Hinata one last look as he went to leave.

 

Kei hesitated when he saw Hinata’s face. The ginger knew. He knew that Kei knew. The redhead opened his mouth and in a faint whisper that Kei could just barely hear asked, “Tsukishima, please...” he whimpered with the last bit of energy he had left, his eyes locking onto the blonds in a pleading look.

 

Kei froze, eyes wide. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn’t know what to tell the redhead. Daichi’s word had been final. There was nothing he could do now. And the boy could very well be their downfall one day so it was probably best to leave him to die. _Why do I have a sinking feeling about this then?_ Something told him that they should keep the boy alive, and not just because he felt bad watching a teammate die, he wasn't certain why though.

 

When Hinata had spoke Yachi and Yamaguchi had stopped and turned to look at the ginger as well. “Do you know him?” Yamaguchi asked Kei curiously, looking back and forth between the two.

 

Kei sighed a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, pulling his hand through his hair in frustration. He was angry. This entire time no one had called him out on being able to remember the non-aether here, and now Hinata Shouyou, some annoying fellow first year from his school had to come and change everything. Hinata had a habit of ruining Kei's composure but this was a new low. 

 

If he asked Daichi to heal the boy he’d have to explain himself and admit that he could remember the boy, or try to explain his odd feeling. Neither sounded appealing. Yet if he didn’t convince Daichi somehow he’d have to watch his teammate die. Hinata wasn’t his favorite person in the world but he still didn’t want to be the reason for his death.

 

Yachi looked up at Kei. She was sad. If he did know the boy then it would be awful to just let him die, but she remembered what Daichi had said about them being low on resources and about the boy being an enemy to them. She didn't understand all of what the leader had said however, even if he was rumored to do bad things in the future that doesn't mean he has to. And at the moment the boy seemed kind enough... She didn’t know what to do.

 

“I just remembered something!” She yelled suddenly, making Kei jump in surprise and turn to give her a heated look. She recoiled in fear and squeaked her next words out, “In the woods... you said something… you said I was probably a healer.” She mumbled looking away from him.

 

Kei’s eyes widened, he began to smile then roughly cleared his throat, “Yes, I believe you are.”

 

“Could I possibly heal him?” She asked quickly, voice still frightened but a little more confident now that it was filled with hope.

 

Kei nodded, “You may be able to if you can figure out how to use your powers quickly enough.”

 

Yachi looked at Yamaguchi, then back to Kei, and after receiving looks of encouragement from both, timidly made her way over to the dying boy on the couch.

 

She moved to place her hands on him and wasn't sure why she knew to do that, it had just come naturally she supposed. She almost gasped when she'd found the boy’s eyes still open and staring straight up at her, but calmed when he smiled.

 

“I-I’m not really sure what I’m doing…” She mumbled, feeling bad for the boy in front of her who must be very scared. She was terrified of doing something wrong herself, but at least trying to help was better than nothing.

 

“That’s alright, just try your best.” He whispered, eyes watering with the pain that had begun to come with speaking, then he closed his eyes while still smiling up at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T-T I have a feeling i just raised more questions than i answered with this chapter but oh well, some back story explanation was necessary
> 
> to recap/elaborate in chronological order:  
> There are no more Keres or Phyros, they're all killed by the war.  
> The current children grow to age where they discover that they're Keres or Phyros and find the two kingdoms  
> The King is the first in the Dream Kingdom and Daichi the first in the Twilight Kingdom  
> The King finds rules for what the Phyros should do and follows them to a T. Including the rule that says they should fight the Keres bc theyre evil  
> Daichi has no rules to follow and soon others show up in Twilight Kingdom and upon being attacked by Dream Kingdom decide Daichi should lead them, he reluctantly agrees  
> Daichi always tries to do what's best for the Kingdom as a whole but hates making such decisions  
> When Suga showed up in the Dream Kingdom he didn't like the dictatorship of it all and flees to the Twilight Kingdom to see if it's any better, pledges his alliance to Daichi (and falls in love with Daichi)  
> In the past Hinata enters aether as a baby and finds no other Phyros so he time travels to the King's reign  
> King finds Hinata and vows to raise him like his own son or little brother maybe until he can control his powers  
> King puts Aone in charge of babysitting baby Hinata  
> Hinata disappears  
> In the present Hinata reappears, Aone is sent to get him etc
> 
> sorry that was probably all very confusing. this whole au world is quite complex and its hard to decide just how much information to put in the chapters cause if theres too much and not enough actual plot taking place it doesnt feel right, but somethings you need a lot for things to make sense T-T if you have any questions feel free to ask~


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, it's been way too long since i updated this i hit a bit of a snag in writing and i went back to school and didn't have time, im still not really content with the way this chapter is but ive rewritten it so many times now that im just going to post it and be done with it. what i need to do is coerce a friend into beta reading my chapters for me so i can get an outside opinion before posting things, i apologize if the next chapter (despite being already written for a while now) takes a while to come out as well. I can promise though that I will finish this fic, I have too much planned for it already so even if it takes a while sometimes i will always update eventually.

Despite being relieved to see the boy up and walking Daichi still couldn’t help but be angry when he found that the redhead had been healed. He knew it had to have been Kei’s doing; no one else could have convinced the medics to go against his orders.

 

Kei had a habit of breaking Daichi’s rules in favor of doing whatever he wished, and using his own position to do so. He did this so often that he was notorious for it throughout both of the Kingdoms. This was one of the main reasons that those of the Dream Kingdom often bragged that their rulers were more put together; they always seemed to agree on things and work together more than those of the Twilight Kingdom. The Keres subjects didn’t mind too much that the Keres leaders more did their own independent things in order to benefit the Kingdom, but many did not like the way Kei seemed to deliberately go against Daichi’s rules. Some were wary of Kei’s position as second in command and next in line to rule because of this. It didn't help that so many of their own subjects found the blond unlikeable and scary as well.

 

Daichi often scolded Kei on this and told him he needed to work on his image if the people were ever going to accept him as their leader. He feared the day he stepped down. He did not doubt Kei’s ability to make decisions that would benefit the Kingdom, the blond was very good at strategizing. Not to mention that he was also currently the most powerful Keres in the Kingdom (aside from the Umbror). He often even gave Daichi advice on what to do and the Umbror had not once disagreed with any of Kei’s decisions. But, still, if the people didn’t like him there would be issues. They may even revolt if Daichi were to die and Kei very suddenly took charge.

 

So, when the Keres leader first saw that the Phyros boy had been healed, he was understandably angry. His first conclusion being that Kei had disobeyed him once more. Before Kei could explain that it had been Yachi to heal the boy, not one of their few remaining medics, the Keres leader had stormed off into the castle in frustration.

 

He decided that he needed an outside opinion on what to do with the Prince this time. He understood that Kei didn’t exactly want to rule the Kingdom, and therefore didn’t care for his image, but he was still the best for the job so they didn’t really have any other choice. He'd shared his concerns with Sugawara on the matter but the Phyros had only mused that Kei was likely just acting out as teenagers are prone to doing. Daichi wasn’t sure what to make of this. He understood that Kei didn’t exactly care for his position but the powerful Keres had still agreed to take it, fully understanding what it entailed. He couldn’t keep going against his word like this after what he had agreed to. Daichi decided to speak with the previous leader on the matter.

 

The Umbror is the lesser known Keres counterpart to the Aetheror. A Keres more powerful than any other who was once destined to rule the Twilight Kingdom.

 

At one point in time the Aetheror and the Umbror had ruled the Dream Kingdom and Twilight Kingdom side by side; this much had been gathered from the collection of documents and books that had remained in the two Kingdoms upon Daichi and the King’s entry.

 

Rumor has it that the two had ruled in peace and that there had been no war between the Kingdoms once upon a time. There were also allusions in some texts to higher beings, worse enemies than each other that required cooperation between the Keres and Phyros Kingdoms to overcome. These tales were very old, however, and had little evidence to back them up so Daichi often questioned how true they were. He did not doubt that the Aetheror and Umbror had once ruled side by side, however. Even if the idea of the Kingdoms getting along was laughable now that the war was going on.

 

So what had happened to change things?

 

The outside world did not know; many apόkosma, even, did not. Daichi did. As did the Dream Kingdom’s King.

 

Several texts said that it had begun when the Umbror had a fight with the Aetheror.

 

The Dark King had apparently looked up to the Light One at first, perhaps even viewed them as an older sibling or parent. They often followed the Aetheror’s advice like it was law in how they ruled their own Kingdom. At some point something changed that, however. Perhaps the Umbror felt they were being bossed around by the Aetheror, or perhaps they had simply decided to start making decisions for themselves. Either way it had ended with their previous dynamic being lost, the subjects noticed this.

 

The war officially started much later — when the highest ranking officials of the Dream Kingdom found the Umbror leaning over the Aetheror’s dead body.

 

Word spread quickly that the Aetheror had been killed by the Umbror’s hand. The chaos that followed led to the Umbror’s imprisonment by the hands of the Aetheror’s Knights. The Umbror, these texts said, had not put up much of a fight. Daichi doubted they would have been able to capture the being otherwise, the dark once-king simply radiated power.

 

Many Phyros became wary; if the Keres King had killed their own Light King then could the other Keres really be trusted as well? What if they had been plotting all along to try to go to war with the Dream Kingdom?

 

Fear and a lack of answers bred havoc.

 

The Aetheror had been well loved, they had always had a way with the people so their death caused a lot of grief throughout the Dream Kingdom. The Umbror on the other hand had never been much of a people person; they prefered to make their decisions from the solitude of their tower while in reign. This certainly didn’t help with the new divide that formed between the Kingdoms. The Dream Kingdom blamed the Twilight for their loss and the Twilight Kingdom were angered by the fact that they were being blamed for the Umbror’s actions.

 

Many Phyros, distraught at the loss of their much loved King, blamed the Twilight Kingdom as a whole. Hate crimes against the Keres and Twilight Kingdom became common in the days that followed. The Keres, mostly out of self defense, began to fight back. It wasn’t long before the fighting escalated to something larger.

 

Then there was the genocide of all apόkosma. Something which had wiped out all of the current Keres and Phyros, regardless of their side in the war. This event remained undocumented, probably due to the suddenness with which it had happened.

 

At first Daichi had had hope.

 

He had hoped, upon finding these documents, that maybe with the repopulation of the two Kingdoms new ideas could be started as well. That perhaps the war didn’t have to continue with them. The Umbror had seemed to hold the same opinion.

 

But the Dream Kingdom King was adamant about following the rule of those before him. It didn’t take long for the stigma and rumors about the Keres to spread throughout the new Kingdom of the Phyros people. It could be argued that the hate had even become more extreme under the new King’s rule. Phyros often called Keres evil without even knowing why other than that it was what they had been taught and had always known since entering the aether. The hate even spread to the outside world with time.

 

New rumors were created as well; such as the idea that the Umbror’s very existence was cursed and would bring misfortune to any who associated with the being. Many did not know that the Umbror had ever existed at all, so these such rumors were few and far between, but they did still reach Daichi’s ears from time to time.

 

Even if an apόkosma had taken the time to explore the vast libraries and learn of the Umbror’s existence, however, they still wouldn’t likely assume that the Umbror was still alive. Of those who did know only a handful of well trusted Keres knew the Umbror’s location —in the Twilight Kingdom’s obsidian tower, kept under lock and key at all times.

 

Beyond knowing where the Umbror was, only Daichi ever spoke to the once-Keres-leader.

 

Daichi had found the being upon his arrival, in the very tower they still resided in today, at the time the dark King had refused to speak to Daichi and he had gone on to continue exploring. He had returned several times to try to get the being to speak to him, thinking they were just another apόkosma like himself who had ended up here all alone. He longed for another companion in the vast and lonely Kingdom. After reading some of the things that the castle had lying about he began to question who the being really was and eventually succeeded when he telepathically asked (mostly on accidently) “Are you the Umbror?” He hadn’t really received a reply but instead more of an affirmative ‘feeling’ from the previous king.

 

After this he had been fearful to visit the tower for a while, and even sped past the door leading up to it in an attempt to avoid the creeping feeling the presence gave him. He did not tell anyone else of his discoverie for a very long time after the Kingdom had begun to become populated much more, still wary about the whole thing.

 

Then the Keres people had announced that they wished for Daichi to lead them, they felt he was the best for the job and they needed a leader in these trying times.

 

He had fled to tower for answers, he did not know how to rule a kingdom. This had started the minimal relationship they now had, where Daichi often sought out the Umbror for advice.

 

Because of the rumors of the Umbror being cursed and the fact that the Umbror had killed the Aetheror, which is something the Umbror did not deny the one time Daichi had worked up the courage to ask, if the Twilight Kingdom found out that their leader frequently spoke to the Old King for advice it likely wouldn’t go over well with the subjects.

 

Worse would be if any of the Dream Kingdom found out where the Umbror was; they’d destroy the tower and much of the castle in seconds even if it meant taking themselves out with it. The new inhabitants of the Dream Kingdom who knew of the Umbror hated the once-King and believed he should be brought down at all costs as far as Daichi could tell. This was mostly the new King’s doing, who made it clear to his Knights that the Umbror was the reason why they had no Aetheror to truly lead them. 

 

They had no reason to believe that the Keres would keep the being right here in their castle, however, so they never attacked that fiercely out of fear of too many of their own dying. Those of the Dream Kingdom who knew of the Umbror believed that the being was in hiding far far away and that only the highest of the Twilight Kingdom knew the Dark King’s whereabouts. The latter was true, but the Umbror was not far away at all.

 

Daichi reached the tower quickly. In all honesty Daichi found the whole ordeal of visiting the Umbror for advice rather unsettling, even now. As he ascended the stairs of the tower his way became blacker and blacker as the thick obsidian walls blocked out more and more of the outside light. There wasn’t a single window or any form of lighting throughout the entire tower, the only light that shown was whatever managed to pass through the crystal walls which became more and more opaque as Daichi continued upward. The top of the tower was pitch black, not a thing could been seen. Nothing could be heard or sensed by powers either, the only remaining sense being touch. Daichi had no intention of touching the dark cursed being though, he only touched his hand to the wall to help guide him to the top once his sight was completely gone. The sudden lack of steps near the top had startled him the first few times so he had learned to count them in his head as he went. There were 1,618 of them. It was quite the trek, understandably so given that it was the tallest tower. 

 

The lack of sound was probably what Daichi found the most eerie, though. The only form of communication he had with the Umbror was telepathy, so he had no clue what the being actually sounded like. Daichi also had to wonder just how many of his thoughts the Umbror could truly sense with his telepathic abilities. The thought sent a small shiver up his spine.

 

Before he could even state his reason for coming, or think it really, the Umbror had filled Daichi’s head with images of the Phyros girl, Yachi. 

 

Daichi wondered why she was relevant for a moment, then he realized —Phyros often have healing abilities. She must have healed Hinata Shouyou. The Umbror often knew what Daichi intended to ask about before he even brought it up, so he wasn’t too surprised by the immediate response.

 

He sighed in relief as he carefully exited the tower. Daichi hadn’t wanted to be responsible for the death of the Phyros boy, but they needed to save their dwindling resources to heal only the most important Keres if they were to win this war. This was often Kei. Being the Prince of Darkness and most powerful Keres their Kingdom had seen in years, they needed to protect him at all costs, he was likely the only one who could defeat the Phyros King if it ever came down to it. The Phyros seemed to know this however so they often made a point of going after the Dark Prince. This is why Daichi often ordered Kei to stay confined to the castle where he would be safe, but the tall blond rarely listened and the Umbror often backed up Kei’s decisions to go out and fight however he wished, so Daichi usually didn’t push the rule too strictly.

 

….

 

Kei was grateful that Daichi was allowing Hinata to continue to recover in their infirmary, the boy had been healed of his life threatening injuries by Yachi but was still in bad shape. And knowing Hinata, if not told to rest in the infirmary, he would likely push himself to near death again by doing something stupid.

 

There was just one problem with a healed Hinata Shouyou. Hinata knew Kei’s secret. Kei had a sinking feeling that Hinata was awful at keeping secrets. He didn’t want anyone finding out that he could remember events and people across the aether and non-aether, it would only cause problems for him in both worlds. 

 

People would interrogate him to find out about their other selves, and in the non-aether world if anyone of significant power found out they’d likely want to use him as a weapon. If they had a way to negotiate with those in the aether, such as someone who could remember things in both worlds, then they could enlist those in the aether to do their will. With this realization in mind he had teleported to the infirmary, determined to convince the redheaded boy not to out him to anyone.

 

Of course he had to walk in on the energetic boy all but yelling about this discovery to Yachi and Yamaguchi. All three turned to stare at him as he walked in.

 

He appeared to be livid, but was really scared more than anything else, he’d never told a single soul before. Hinata didn’t seem to notice, however, as he simply grinned in Kei’s direction.

 

“Is it true then? You can remember us from the non-aether when you’re here?” Yamaguchi asked with wide eyes, Yachi gave him a similar look of astonishment.

 

He nodded solemnly then immediately opened his mouth to warn them to be quiet about the matter.

 

“Don’t worry, I already told them not to tell anyone else!” Hinata grinned broadly from where he sat on his bed, feet dangling off one side unable to reach the ground “I figured you didn’t want to be the topic of conversation throughout the  _ entire _ Kingdom, but we’re all friends here so I thought it was fine to tell them” Hinata’s smile fell a bit, “We should tell Kageyama too, after all he’s one of our friends as well, I’m not sure where he went though…” He trailed off as he glanced behind the blond at the door that led to the rest of the castle.

 

Kei said nothing about the Knight’s whereabouts. Kageyama had locked himself away in some tower last he’d heard, upset that Kei had found a way around Daichi’s rule when he was unable to himself. He had a feeling that the Knight was also ashamed to face the redhead after not being able to save him.

 

“I don’t need more people knowing about this.” He all but growled. He already wasn’t sure how he felt about the three of them knowing. Hinata jumped and looked a bit apologetic. A bit, but not enough. Yachi looked scared at his out burst, Yamaguchi just stared at him. “You will not,” he looked at each of them in turn as he enunciated each word slowly, “tell Kageyama of this.”

 

Hinata looked like he felt bad, he had turned his eyes to his lap and was twisting his hands around, “But why not?” he asked timidly. He sounded like a small child.

 

Kei wanted to yell but instead he took a deep breath, “How would you take it if you very suddenly found out about some other life you had been living in another world as a different person for several  _ years _ ?” He placed a lot of emphasis on the last word. Hinata didn’t respond, but his eyes had widened in thought.

 

“With these two it wouldn’t be as shocking to learn because they just entered the aether for the first time, they haven’t created entirely different lives for themselves yet,” Kei continued, looking to Yachi and Yamaguchi, “If you try to tell him all that, or worse if you start telling him and he suddenly remembers his entire other life don’t you think that may be a bit too much for him to take all at once?” Kei had certainly given the idea some thought before.

 

Hinata nodded in understanding now. “Okay, we won't tell him.” He whispered, he didn’t want to admit it but the way Tsukishima was talking to him was really beginning to scare him. Yachi and Yamaguchi had gone quiet as well out of fear.

 

Kei sighed and tried to calm himself. He wasn’t even sure if what he was saying was correct, but he didn’t want to risk someone who already disliked him finding out about his secret and it was a theory he’d had for a while. Yachi and Yamaguchi he was a bit more willing to trust, Kageyama he was not. He was still very annoyed with what Hinata had done, however.

 

They talked further about their aether and non-aether selves and compared the two. Eventually Kei turned to leave, tired with the conversation seeing as he already knew all about both worlds.

 

The door to the infirmary creaked open slowly. Kageyama timidly entered, a look of hurt and confusion on his face. Kei could only hope that the Keres hadn’t heard them, he glared at Kagayama as he passed, who lost his timid look to glare back. The Knight stormed into the room with newfound determination as the Prince took his leave with similar stride.

 

…

 

After a couple more days of healing in the Twilight Kingdom and speaking with Yachi and Yamaguchi it came time for all of them to leave the aether (A/N remember time is different in the aether so this is only a single night in the real world). They weren’t certain if — now that their aether selves knew of their non-aether selves — they would remember anything once they left the aether so Hinata had vowed to once more tell them everything in the non-aether if they did not. Kei had grudgingly agreed to back him up if the other two doubted him.

 

Hinata had also agreed not to tell non-aether Kagayama anything about the aether. This pained him as he wanted nothing more but to tell his best friend everything that had happened and to tease him about it all as he normally did, but he feared what Tsukishima had said. 

 

One day Tsukishima, when he had managed to find the three of them without Kageyama there, explained to them that the Keres Knight had psychic abilities that they should be wary of in order to keep this all a secret. Particularly the ability to read minds. The Knight would typically never use it unless in a battle so they didn’t have to worry too much, but they should be careful to never give him any reason to be suspicious of them. Hinata found this shocking, he also found it very shocking that Tsukishima and Kageyama had such high ranks of power in this world. It was very cool, but also made him a bit jealous. (A/N: No one has told him that he’s the ‘prince of light’, he thinks he’s just an ordinary Phyros)

 

Hinata himself was a bit of a mystery when it came to remembering the aether and non-aether. At first glance it would seem he possessed the same ability that Tsukishima did. According to Tsukishima, however, the redhead had yet to actually enter the aether, which is why he remembered everything and didn’t seem to have the ability to use his Phyros powers. He’d only been able to travel to the Kingdoms because he’d always been with an apόkosma who had transported him with their own abilities each time. But then how had he been able to heal Kageyama? For this the Prince hadn’t had an explanation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter probably isnt the best so any criticism to help me improve is welcome  
> theres a lot more backstory which only complicates the plot even more and i was very torn on just how much explanation i should give in favor of also having the plot actually advance a little bit? idk but tell me what you think


	9. Chapter 9

When Shouyou went to school the next day he was quite literally bouncing with excitement. It would be difficult to wait until he was alone with Yachi, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to talk about all that had happened the previous night. The hardest part was not telling Kageyama, the second he spotted his friend on the way to morning practice he wanted to shout to him about it all. Instead he took Tsukishima's words to heart and stayed quiet on the matter for fear of overwhelming his friend. Kageyama questioned why he seemed to be more jittery than usual, but he brushed it off by saying he’d tried drinking some of his father's coffee that morning which led to a comment about how Hinata was a dumbass, as usual.

 

When lunch came around Shouyou felt bad for sneakily making his way to Yachi’s classroom without Kageyama, but he couldn't help it. He didn’t want to leave Kageyama to eat his lunch alone but Shouyou knew that if he waited any longer he’d just spill everything to his friend.

 

Yachi looked surprised when he walked into her classroom not long after the bell signaling the beginning of lunch had rung.

 

“Hinata? What are you doing here? And where’s Kageyama?” She rarely saw the two apart and usually when they graced her with their presence during lunch it was because the two of them needed help in their studies. It wasn’t unusual for them to show up without telling her beforehand but it was very unusual for Hinata to come alone and without his school books. 

 

Seeing just half of the duo was odd. Despite their prickly attitudes towards each other Kageyama and Hinata were nearly inseparable.  _ I hope nothing happened between them.  _ Yachi couldn’t help but worry.

 

Shouyou’s face of excitement fell a bit at her questions. He pursed his lips, “I guess it’s true that you guys don't remember then… no matter, me and Tsukishima will explain everything!” His face brightened once more. “Come on, let’s go find him!” He grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her from the room, her questions of, “What why? What don’t I remember? Hinata where are we going?” seemed to fall on deaf ears. She just managed to grab her lunch before being dragged out of the classroom.

 

… 

 

“WHAAA? WHERE’S TSUKISHIMA?” Yamaguchi and Yachi flinched. Hinata’s out burst had caused several students in the class to give all three of them curious looks, whether it was just due to his loudness or due to the fact that someone was actually asking about the mean blond was up for debate, however. Yachi blushed at the attention while Yamaguchi gave his class apologetic eyes for his friend’s behavior.

 

Turning back to Hinata, “I texted him to ask where he was this morning and he said he was sick...” Yamaguchi responded to his question with a shrug.  _ Tsuki never gets sick though, he must just be skipping. _ Tadashi thought to himself. Tsukishima skipped school often, he always told Tadashi later that it was because whatever they were currently learning was too boring and that he already knew it all. Tadashi couldn’t help but believe he was being truthful given how good the blond’s grades were in every single subject. Tadashi himself didn’t get bad grades but he still made mistakes sometimes, or just didn’t have enough time to study as much as he should have or what not so he usually got one or two questions wrong here and there. He had yet to see Tsukishima get anything but a hundred percent on an assignment, however.

 

“Awwww I was hoping he’d be here, too,” Hinata looked crestfallen. Yamaguchi and Yachi shared confused looks at this statement.

 

“Well no matter, It’ll just be us three then!” He grabbed Yamaguchi’s arm to drag him out of his seat, “Come on!”

 

“Wait! Where are we going?” Yamaguchi’s protesting was a bit more fruitful than Yachi’s, but not by much. He got a quick mumble of “The roof, to go eat!” In response to his question then was dragged out of his classroom much the same way she was.

 

The two willingly followed, still confused, but not really upset by their lunch period’s events so far. It got to a point with Hinata where you learned it was best to just go along for the ride and see what happens, so they let him drag them out onto the rooftop with their lunches. They were even more confused, however, when upon spotting Kageyama already on the roof Hinata immediately turned around and urged them to hurry back down the stairs.

 

“Hinata what’s going on?” Yamaguchi asked, getting a bit fed up at last. “Why are you avoiding Kageyama?”

 

Yachi gasped and her eyes widened, “You two didn’t have a fight again did you?”

 

Hinata shook his head and continued to lead them down the stairs and into the school. “I need to talk to you two alone.” he whispered, “Well and Tsukishima but he’s not here right now so I guess just you two.” At this point he’d dragged them all the way through the building, and out the door to the school grounds.

 

“Come on let’s sit over here to talk.” He said, leading them to a nearby tree. It was a little ways away from their school building, far enough to avoid being heard by any nearby students who were enjoying their lunch period outside but near enough to still get back inside in a timely manner when the bell rung.

 

“This looks good.” He said at normal volume now and plopped down to sit cross legged on the ground beside the tree, his red hair bouncing with the motion.

 

Yamaguchi and Yachi shared confused looks then followed suit, both turned to Hinata to ask what was going on but they didn’t have to wait for an answer as Hinata immediately launched into conversation the moment they began to sit down.

 

“Okay so we were all there in the aether and-” His voice rose with excitement as he spoke and his eyes sparkled.

 

“Wait this is about the aether?” Yamaguchi interrupted immediately, giving Hinata a shocked look.

 

Hinata nodded with emphasis. He was slightly annoyed that he’d been interrupted, he had so much to tell them and only their lunch period to do it, he didn’t let it show though.

 

“You can’t remember things that happen in the aether.” Yamaguchi said, the disbelief made clear in his voice.

 

Hinata nodded once more, his eyes hardening in response to what Yamaguchi had said, “Yes, normally you can’t, but me and Tsukishima can!” 

 

He’d said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world instead of something that was completely unheard of. Yachi remained quiet, a bit frightened by the topic but she shared a disbelieving and shocked look with Yamaguchi. How was Hinata coming up with this?

 

“See this is why I wanted Tsukishima to back me up, he remembers too!” Hinata huffed when he saw the two of them look at each other, “And you guys would probably believe him. It’s true we really can remember the aether, and you guys were there with us and I was going to tell you all about it in the hopes that you’d remember too!”

 

Yamaguchi shook his head, Hinata was sounding crazier by the minute, “Tsukishima would have told me something like that sooner.” he said a bit solemnly.

 

Hinata shook his head, “I had to convince him that it was okay that I told you guys!”

 

“Hinata we really don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m sorry,” Yachi spoke up.

 

“I know that’s why I was going to show you, so you’d remember!” Hinata said, still a bit hopeful.

 

“After last night I think it’d be best not to talk about the aether, Hinata.” Yamaguchi said.

 

“Last night?” Hinata was the confused one now.

 

“Yeah, you were going to show us the explosion area from something that happened in the aether?” Yamaguchi explained, wondering how Hinata could have possibly forgotten.

 

Yachi shivered, “We got lost and it took forever for me to get home, I remember looking at the clock before I went to bed and it was really really late”

 

“We didn’t get lost though! Well maybe we did at first… but then we went to the aether! That’s why we got home so late, because we spent several days there, which is several hours here!” Hinata was excited, he was hoping that if he could make them question their memories of last night he could get them to suddenly remember it all.

 

“No Hinata, we really just go lost then went home.” Yamaguchi was getting a bit annoyed now. Yachi solemnly shook her head in agreement at his words. Seeing Hinata’s face fall the way it did nearly made him take back his words, he thought it’d be best not to talk about the aether any more at all, however, so he remained quiet.

 

He looked to the ground to avoid making eye contact with Hinata and saw his lunch box at his feet, “We should probably eat or we’ll run out of time during our lunch period,” he said to Yachi now, his eyes still avoiding the redheads slumped figure.

 

They began to eat in silence, Hinata as well, even though he was still upset. He wished Tsukishima had been here, then this wouldn’t have been a problem. Normally he’d be thrilled that the blond wouldn’t be at volleyball practice of course now that he actually wanted him here he was gone. The silence grew more and more uncomfortable with time, broken only by Yachi and Yamaguchi’s concerned glances at one another, neither one knowing what to say to Hinata. 

 

They didn’t have to say anything, however, because Hinata suddenly cheered up, “I know! You know where Tsukishima lives right?,” He asked Yamaguchi. “We can visit him after practice and he’ll explain it all with me,” Hinata’s voice was filled with excitement, “then you guys will see that I was telling the truth.” He was smug that he’d come up with another way to convince them. He still wished he’d been able to do it during lunch, however.

 

This statement made their faces darken, though.

 

“I don’t know…” Yachi responded this time, “I don’t really wanna go anywhere late at night again, I’m sorry Hinata.” She was thinking of last night, and Yamaguchi couldn’t help but agree, getting lost in the woods for hours hadn’t been fun he wasn’t sure if he wanted to follow another one of Hinata’s plans to do something after school that related to the aether. Not to mention he had a feeling that Tsukishima would just slam the door in their faces when he saw all three of them there.

 

Hinata was crestfallen. “Please,” He pleaded, looking to Yamaguchi.

 

Tadashi sighed. “I guess I can text him to ask if we can come over. That does not mean we will necessarily go there though!” He added when he say Hinata’s face light up, “If he says no we aren’t going, okay?” Hinata nodded in agreement but was still smiling his signature grin, too excited at the chance.

 

“Is that alright with you, Yachi?” He asked her just to make sure.

 

“Yeah that sounds fine.” She smiled.

 

….

 

“You said we won't go if he says no. He didn’t say no.” Shouyou knew he was being childish, but he was desperate to show them and have others to talk to about the aether. It seemed Tsukishima hadn’t responded to Yamaguchi’s text at all, he hadn’t even read it, Hinata took this as an excuse to go, after all he hadn’t said no.

 

Yachi wanted to argue but Yamaguchi had actually agreed that they should go, or that he would go at least. The fact that Tsukishima hadn’t looked at his phone all day worried him a bit, maybe he really was sick. He wanted to go check up on his best friend just to be sure, and although it wasn’t the reason Hinata had wanted him to come he was going just the same so the redhead was content. Yachi cautiously agreed to go as well when she found out the two of them intended to.

The three of them managed to get away after practice without too much scrutinization from the rest of the team under the guise that they were just visiting Tsukishima because he was sick. Some of the upperclassmen did wonder why Hinata of all people wanted to go see the blond but they didn’t question his decision.

 

They didn’t have to worry about Kageyama following either because as he put it, “Why on earth would I want to go visit that asshole?”

 

At this outburst Yamaguchi had shrugged and dragged Hinata along with him before he could start a fight with Kageyama which would have only led to more questions. Everyone was pretty perplexed by Hinata’s seemingly newfound admiration for the tall blond. Hinata didn’t explain that he still thought the blocker was a total jerk because then he’d have to explain why he really wanted to see the blond so badly. Really he was just desperate for someone else to talk to who remembered the aether, even if it was Tsukishima of all people.

 

….

 

Kei had not gone to school today. He hadn’t trusted Hinata to keep quiet for a second. He could only imagine how it would go. It wouldn’t be long before people came asking, people everywhere would want to know of their aether selves and would want to know what was truly happening in the parallel world. Not long after the government would find him for similar reasons. He punched the castle wall in anger. He was pretty sure he was having a panic attack.  _ There’s no other way I’d be stupid enough to punch a wall. _ He thought to himself, now cradling his hurt hand.  _ Why did I just do that?  _ He sighed and let himself lean back against the wall and slide down until he was sitting on the amethyst floor.

 

Luckily, hardly anyone was here at this time of day to witness his break down. They all had important things to attend to in the non-aether, like school or work, so people rarely entered the aether during the couple day period that was the day time in the non-aether. Kei came and went as he pleased during these times, having full control of when he entered or left. He intended to wait here for as long as possible while they came for him. Perhaps even never leave.

 

….

 

When they got to Tsukishima’s house no one seemed to be home. All the lights were out and there weren't any cars in the driveway.

 

“Well it can’t hurt to knock,” Yamaguchi shrugged and led the way up to the Tsukishima household’s front door. He was familiar with Tsuki’s house and family so he had taken charge in leading them to the blond’s home.

 

He knocked loudly and waited for a response. They were met with silence. He tried again, and the same result.

 

“Maybe he went to the doctor?” Yachi suggested.

 

“Yeah maybe.” Hinata said with a frown, his shoulders sagged and he sighed in defeat, turning on his heel to hop down the steps.

 

Yachi and Yamaguchi followed.

 

“We really did enter the aether.” Hinata said once more, the confidence had left his voice however, and he didn’t say anything more. 

 

Before they even reached the sidewalk, however, something happened.

 

….

 

When Daichi entered that evening and found that Tsukishima had never left the previous night he ordered for him to leave and return to school the next day. Well aether-Daichi was not aware of whether non-aether-Kei was in school or not, but had ordered that he return back to his normal non-aether life whatever that may be. He had thought that Kei was only sulking because of the new Prince of Light who had been allowed to wander around the kingdom with Yamaguchi and Yachi the past few days was getting all the attention. Kei didn’t have the heart to tell the leader that he didn’t give a damn about how much attention he got. If he’d argued then he may have had to explain the real reason he hadn’t left the aether today.

 

“TSUKISHIMA.” Kei groaned,  _ speak of the devil. _

 

“WHY WEREN’T YOU AT SCHOOL TODAY?” Hinata yelled incredulously, once again he was accompanied by Tadashi and Yachi. The three were beginning to become inseparable. He tried not to think about the fact that he’d been spending an uncanny amount of time with them as well lately.

 

“Don’t you trust me Tsuki?” Hinata pouted, Kei growled at the nickname coming from Hinata. “I didn’t tell anyone, honest! I was just going to tell these guys like we agreed.” He pointed behind him at the other two first years and pouted at Tsukishima.

 

“Did we listen to you?” Yamaguchi asked curiously.

 

“No.” Hinata pouted further.

 

Yachi giggled. “I told you I probably wouldn’t believe you unless Tsuki said it too.” 

 

Yamaguchi laughed. “Why didn’t you back him up?” He asked, turning to Tsukishima now.

 

“He didn’t come to school at all!” Hinata exclaimed, answering for the blond with a huff.

 

They all turned to look at him.

 

“I didn’t trust you.” Kei said coldly to Hinata.

 

Hinata groaned, “Tomorrow for sure.”

 

Hinata spent the rest of their time in the aether explaining to Yamaguchi and Yachi what had happened today in the non-aether, they didn’t stay for nearly as long today as they had the previous night however as they did have homework and things to attend to in the real world.

 

….

 

Tsukishima had reluctantly gone to school the next day and everything had passed like normal. Well semi-normal. Hinata had given him knowing looks throughout morning practice, but other than that everything passed as it normally did.

 

At lunch, however, Hinata paid him a visit. “What are you doing here?” Kei asked him angrily. 

 

“Just visiting you.” Hinata replied nonchalantly. He rocked back and forth on his heels and smiled at Tsukishima innocently. Kei, who had a feeling the redhead wanted to talk to him about the aether, groaned and rolled his eyes, they had agreed to wait until after school again.

 

Non-aether Yamaguchi giggled at this and looked between the two of them, surprised by the interaction. Hinata had been so insistent on finding the blond yesterday too, he’d thought it was just Hinata being weird but now he noticed that Kei’s mean look towards Hinata wasn’t quite as harsh as it normally was. Since when were Hinata and Tsukishima friends? Tadashi wasn’t sure but he was glad that someone else seemed to be interested in spending time with the introverted blond aside from himself. He’d always told Tsuki he should spend more time with the other first years.

 

Hinata was going to ask Tsukishima and Yamaguchi if they wanted to go outside to join him and Yachi for lunch, he intended to talk to them about the other night but knew better than to bring it up in front of everyone. Before he could ask he was interrupted by someone, however.

 

“So was he lying?” Their classmate had walked up with his arms crossed and was looking at Tsukishima.

 

“What?” Kei graced the kid with a response, raising an eyebrow in the process.

 

“Didn’t you guys go with Hinata the other night to see if he was lying or not?” Their classmate uncrossed his arms to place a hand on his hip and gave Tsukishima a curious look, he turned to Yamaguchi as well.

 

Kei wasn’t sure what to say, he’d completely forgotten about the reason why they’d gone into the woods in the first place that night when they first all entered the aether.

 

“Yes they did! And it was true! Wasn’t it Tsuki?” Hinata turned to him with wide excited eyes but upon deeper inspection Kei noticed that the look seemed a bit forced.

 

“Right.” He said emotionlessly.

 

“Really?” The classmate asked in astonishment, turning to Yamaguchi for confirmation.

 

“Uh yeah I kind of remember seeing some weird things in the woods…” Tadashi replied, rather flustered. He looked to Hinata and Tsukishima for help wondering what was going on. Looking back he couldn’t actually remember most of the night, just entering the woods, getting lost, and being back in bed. What had happened in between? Hinata and Tsuki seemed to both agree on what had happened, so why couldn’t he remember? He was a bit nervous by his lack of memory. When he looked over however Tsukishima gave him just the slightest nod as if telling him to play along. Had Hinata been telling the truth yesterday?

 

….

 

Tsukishima speculated on everything that had happened the past few days. A lot had changed. Before now he had had a fairly solid routine: go to school, act ignorant about the aether, talk to Yamaguchi, put minimal effort into everything else. And in the aether: agree to stay in the kingdom under Daichi’s orders, sneak off, fight Phyros, fight many Phyros, get hurt, return to the castle. These routines had repeated themselves for a very long time and although he could remember the aether while in the non-aether and vice versa and that knowledge pained him at times he’d never have considered telling someone else before. For one it was risky. If people at his school found out the questions about their aether selves would be never ending, likewise if any apόkosma were to find out in the aether. If the government or any of the higher-ups in the aether were to find out they’d want to use him, or more his ability to remember, to do things. Most likely to try to persuade people in the aether or non-aether to help with wars in the other. It would be messy and confusing and he would just become a tool to them and the idea really didn’t appeal to him.

 

He’d never really thought about just telling a close friend or two, however. Of course this could be an issue because what if the person couldn’t be trusted, but beyond that he’d never even considered what it might be like to have another person who knew. Yamaguchi probably could have been trusted after all, but he never would have thought to tell him anything if Hinata hadn’t come along. Knowing about the one state of being and one of your lives while in the other was a burden, it was a pain and annoyance, why would he ever want to put that weight on someone else as well? Hinata didn’t treat it that way, though. He treated it like a wonderful little secret, like an old inside joke amongst a couple close friends. Kei wasn’t sure what to make of this.

 

He did, after school that day, assist Hinata in explaining Yachi and Yamaguchi’s aether selves to them. To everyone’s shock after a short moment of explaining things Yamaguchi’s eyes had lit up and with a gasp all the memories had suddenly come flooding in. He could remember all of his times in the aether now, even those Kei and Hinata hadn’t mentioned yet. Not long after Yachi had a similar moment of realization. This was interesting information. Kei felt slightly guilty for not telling Daichi about all of this because the information that someone is capable of remembering all their memories in the other world —if given a slight push to begin with—was very valuable. He’d have to explain that he had been capable of remembering things for years, however, and he feared how Daichi would take that.

 

Likewise when the four entered the aether next Yamaguchi and Yachi remembered that day's events from the non-aether and all previous days. It seemed the remembering went both ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so im finaaaally updating, sorry about that.
> 
> I have this entire story planned out and do intend to finish it but when i get inbetween the story arcs i have planned out and have to do little filler chapters like this one i have a really hard time writing them and editing them so im sorry this took so long and im sorry if its kinda shitty


	10. rip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> im sorry

so i got really busy and didn't work on this fic for a very long time and then i realized that i'd like to rewrite it all and do it differently but im still very busy and im not sure when i'll ever get around to doing that so yeah, if you do read this far and honestly enjoy it please let me know because it'll give me more motivation to fix and continue with it i still have lots of ideas for this fic and ideas how to fix it but finding the time and motivation to actually write it out is difficult so we'll see what happens


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